Changes of a Lifetime
by AnnKa
Summary: After Morgan has taken some personal time, his partner is worried and decides to pay him a visit. Never would she guess, what she is about to find at his place. Meeting one-year-old Avery not only changes Derek's but also Emily's life and might make them see what they have been missing out on.
1. Adjusting

Okay here we go. This new story is set at the very beginning of season 4. They are back from their New York case, but I will spread the time between the cases a little bit so everything between now and well you will see, is filled between The Angle Maker and Minimal Loss. The show was unspecific about time at the beginning of this season so I used that for my advantage.

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is and I'm very proud of that.

Lots of Love to Lovelover7891 and the fact that this was the very first chapter I ever forced you to read for me. :D Thanks for sticking with me since then.

"What I really want to tell him is to pick up that baby of his and hold her tight, to set the moon on the edge of her crib and to hang her name up in the stars." ― Jodi Picoult, _My Sister's Keeper_

Adjusting

It had all started about halfway through their last case. He had taken a phone call and after that something had changed. She couldn't quite put a hand on what had happened and he refused to talk to her. That was a week ago and she hadn't seen him since then, being told by Hotch that he had taken some personal time off. It had taken her all afternoon to come up with a plan to approach him. During the past two years, they had gotten close. He was the one person she would trust not only with her life, but more importantly she knew she could talk to him about anything. With that factored in, his behavior irritated her even more – especially when he refused to admit that something was wrong.

She drew a deep breath as she knocked against his front door. He took a very long time to open the door, making her doubt her plan again. The hand holding the six-pack sank back down to her side, almost hiding the drink behind her.

"Emily?" His face clearly showed the surprise of seeing her.

Completely lost for words she lifted the beer back up and put a helpless grin on. His eyes wandered to her hand and then back to her face. Her own eyes took in his features and she felt like he looked more tired than after a long case, but he hadn't been at work for days.

His eyes spun back into the house before taking in her sight again. Her instinct was telling her that he was hiding something and if he had been an unsub this would be the moment when her hand grabbed for the safety of her gun. But since he was her partner and one of her best friends she was just getting a little more worried. What could possibly be so bad that he would be afraid to have_ her_ know about it?

He finally sighed and opened the door wider so she could step in. She glanced at him but followed his invitation. When she was about to head into the living room, he stopped her and redirected her to the kitchen. She had a hard time to hide her irritation about that. While it had only been her imagination, it was now clear: He was hiding something.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked, after he had opened one of the beers handing it to her. Her eyes narrowed as he sat down without taking a bottle for his own.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, but kept quiet and took a sip of the cold liquid rather than asking more questions. Only her plan didn't work out. He didn't speak a word and she wasn't sure what to think.

"Hotch said you took some personal time." A question was clearly hanging in the statement but he simply nodded. She placed her bottle back on the counter. What was supposed to be a fun night with some alcohol to lighten his mood had changed nothing in him, but she felt more frustrated than ever. She couldn't help herself for feeling left out. Yes, they had their secrets, but personal time meant that something had happened. Something you would tell your partner, because it was influencing your work together.

"I should probably go."

"I guess."

She swore that he sounded relieved, which made her feel even worse. Trying to not show her disappointment, she grabbed her keys that had also been abandoned on the counter and began walking to the door. As she passed the living room she tried to glance in, but suddenly he was by her side closing the door. She turned her head away, again to hide the hurt and increased her walking speed to make it out of the door faster. On autopilot, she opened the door and stepped over the threshold without saying anything else. She was about to slam it shut, when a loud cry made her stop in her movement. As she swung back around she almost ran into a frozen Derek. The crying settled into a constant cry that sounded like one from a baby; only he didn't have any children.

He saw in her quizzical look that she was not about to leave and decided to take care of one problem at a time. He left her at the door to make her own decision and sprinted upstairs. In his former spare bedroom, he leaned over the new crib and pulled a little girl into his arms. Just like every time he had done this the last week, but his touch and hug would only further her hysteria. She was scared to death and he did not know what to do about it.

"It's okay." He tried to sooth her quietly, but she wouldn't calm down. He wasn't sure how long he had been holding her when she suddenly got quiet. He could feel the soft touch of Emily's hand on his back, and turned in surprise. So did the little girl in his arms, content to keep her eyes on the strange woman.

"How did you do that?" He was puzzled at the quietness that had spread between the three. Emily's eyes wandered from the girl to him as she shrugged.

"I don't know. Luck I guess."

He nodded slowly.

"What's her name?"

"Avery. Avery Rose." He couldn't stop the proud smile from coming to his lips. He could see in his partners face that she had about a million questions, but to her credit she didn't ask.

"She turned one three weeks ago." He offered as she took one of the little hands in hers.

"Oh did you sweetie?" He watched her hand go to the little face and carefully caress the rosy cheeks. Then something happened that neither of the adults had expected; Avery reached her little arms towards Emily clearly indicating that she wanted to be held by her. As neither of them reacted he could feel the little feet push against him impatiently.

"Would you?" He asked, not sure if she was okay with the situation.

His question brought her back into motion and she opened her arms. She had barely made her move when the little girl almost jumped into her arms.

"Well hello!" She couldn't stop herself from laughing at the eagerness of the baby. She took in the features of the little face. She had already noticed that the little eyes resembled her partners and so were many other features. The features were softer of course and her skin seemed just a slight bit lighter than Derek's. She grimaced as the little hand rose into her dark curls and grabbed a bunch of them.

"Those are mine, sweetie." She carefully removed the little hand and then made sure that her hair fell back behind her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." Derek stepped forward, unsure how to help, but she just shook her head smiling at him.

"My bad, I should have thought about that before taking her. Everyone knows that one year olds like pulling hair."

He took a step backwards.

"Did she have dinner?" Emily felt like it was time to investigate the reason for the babies crying.

"She refuses to eat most of the time." It was hard to admit that. It had been hard enough to call the nurses in the hospital to ask for help, but their advice had not helped a lot.

"Well let's see what you have." She had noticed how uncomfortable he had been telling her this last piece of information and so she decided to give him a break. She made her way back downstairs and began searching the kitchen for something toddler approved. Finally, she sat Avery on the counter and filled her hand with cereal. The little girl didn't look too fond at all.

"I guess we are doing this the hard way." Emily sighed and put the cereal down, reaching for the banana she had set her eyes on and opening it up. She broke of a little piece and then held up both the banana and the cereal. In some seminar years ago, she had heard the children needed a choice. Indeed, after considering her option for a little while the little hands wandered to the cereal.

Still chewing on some of them Avery's eyes went to the door where Derek stood and a giggle came over her lips. Focusing her eyes back on Emily's hand, she filled her hand with cereal again and then stretched towards him.

"Oh you think daddy needs something to eat too?" The girl glanced at her for a moment, before concentrating on the man again, shaking her little arm in his direction. He came closer and opened his hand to catch the cereal. Satisfied with her accomplishment the little hands now reached for the banana.

"How did you do that?"

"Psychology seminar and a little bit of luck I guess." She smiled at him, before concentrating back on the child and feeding her.

An hour later Avery had not only eaten the banana and a small amount of cereal but also hunted after her ball in the living room long enough to be tired again. While Derek took her up to her crib, his friend started collecting the toys that were spread all over the room and putting them into a box. At least now, she knew why he didn't want her in the living room. The mess of toys would have been a dead giveaway.

"Want to finish your beer?"

She looked up from where she had positioned herself on the couch and shook her head.

"That's probably warm."

He laughed und sank into the couch beside her. Silence spread between them, although this time it was more comfortable. She was still curious, but she was sure that now he would tell her whenever he was ready.

"Her mother was killed in a car accident four weeks ago." He watched as her mouth opened in surprise, but again she didn't say anything. "I didn't know that Avery existed until I got that call from the hospital. Apparently, her mother was kind enough to leave a will and explain that I am the father. It took them a while to find me, but they did. I was offered testing to confirm I'm the father and then I got custody."

"Just like that?" She stared at him with disbelief. One would think they made sure that custody was given to someone caring.

"Well they checked that I bought the basic supplies two days ago, but apparently being an FBI agent is enough for the background check and after all I am her father."

"When were you going to tell us?" Although she hadn't intended to as soon as the words slipped her mouth she realized how hurt she sounded and both knew that she really meant me instead of us. It didn't matter to her when he told the rest of the team.

His mouth opened and closed again, staring at the wall behind her. Finally, he shrugged as he did not know the answer to the question. "I guess whenever I felt like I had things figured out better than a not eating, hysterical baby."

"I'm sure you are doing great."

He glared at her, not convinced by what she said.

"I'm serious Morgan. I've seen you with children before on cases. You are doing great. She needs time to adjust; I'm sure that is all. At her age babies are really attached to who they have known before, so as soon as she is used to you, she will be fine."

He nodded slowly, still not fully convinced from what she had said and looked back up when she stood up next to him.

"I should go. You look like you need sleep even more than that tired little girl you took to bed a few minutes ago."

As he got up and walked after her, he was almost desperately trying to find an excuse how he could make her stay. Just because Avery had eaten once for Emily didn't mean she would do it again for him. However, as she turned at the door to say goodbye, he just couldn't come up with a valid excuse.

"You know, you can call me. Always." She said quietly, as if she had read his thoughts and the panic slowly rising in him.

"Thanks." The first honest smile came to his face in days, as he noticed her usage of his phrase for her: always.


	2. Shopping

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to Guest, RosalieTheBeautyQueen, , csinylover106, jhplug, Nix1978, dannyanne, Paul, Sarbeary, Lenika08, and WrItTeN-PuRpLe. You are all fantastic and I have to admit I'm a little surprised by all the feedback.

Kendall, you get your own paragraph, because first of all without you this would be full of grammar and spelling errors, and second of all you won the award for longest feedback. :)

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is and I'm very proud of that.

"**A girl can still admire, can't she? Even those who can't afford to go in the store can still window-shop. Right? Knowing he wasn't for me didn't mean I couldn't covet the merchandise."** ― Colleen Houck, _Tiger's Curse_

Shopping

She had barely made it home that night, before JJ's call had gotten her back to Quantico. In a way she had been relieved that it hadn't come to the drinking night she had been planning on, but again it was weird for her to not have her partner around while chasing after the unsub. Finally, early on Saturday morning, she had made it back into her apartment and had fallen asleep without going through the trouble of changing.

To say that she was displeased when the vibration of her phone awoke her was probably an understatement. Her fingers, still numb, fumbled it out of her jeans pocket and for the smallest moment she wondered how she had been able to sleep in those clothes. She then eyed the caller ID for a moment before answering with a sigh.

"You know when I said you can call me anytime, I forgot to exclude mornings after a case that didn't give me any sleep. How is Avery?"

She could hear his chuckle and rolled on her back before closing her eyes again.

"_She is eating. We were wondering if you would come shopping with us. She needs some clothes and I feel like I wouldn't make the wisest choices."_

She reopened her eyes and stared at the roof trying to decide what to make of the situation. Sure she loved shopping, but when it came to baby clothes Garcia would probably be the better choice, or JJ after all her friend was the pregnant one, who loved shopping for baby clothes.

"_Em?"_

"Meet me at the mall in half an hour?" That was not very realistic, as she wanted to take a shower, drink at least one cup of coffee and then still had to drive through the probably busy Saturday morning traffic.

"_How about I pick you up in half an hour?"_

"Okay." Emily resigned to his plan. She simply didn't have the energy to argue with him and her plan hadn't made any sense in the first place. After she hung up her eyes closed again and she dozed for another ten minutes before finally getting up and showering. She had made it into fresh clothes and had her hair hanging in wet curls all around her face when the doorbell stopped her in her routine. She sighed, as she still had not gotten to the coffee part and made her way to the door.

She had barely enough time to open the door when she saw the little girl was already flying from her friend's arms into hers.

"At least one of us is awake." Emily adjusted Avery with a small chuckle and glanced at her father. Derek lifted his hand that held a coffee cup and a bag that seemed to have breakfast in it. "And your dad knows exactly how to make a woman happy."

She stepped away from the door to give her partner room to enter the apartment, before she closed the door and set the little girl down.

"I didn't mean to wake you up." They both watched as Avery carefully but curiously made her way around the corner into the kitchen. He handed her the breakfast before they followed her into the room.

"Blueberry, how did you know that's my favorite?" She took a bite of the muffin, before taking a large sip of the coffee.

"A little bit of profiling and watching you. And possibly the fact that it is what you have for breakfast every time when we happen to eat together."

She smiled at him, before nodding towards Avery: "So other than the eating, how is it going?"

"We arranged a sleeping schedule we can both live with. She gives me a little more time of reading her mind instead of screaming her lungs out. That's about it."

"That's a good start, isn't it?"

"I guess so. We are still adjusting and I'm not sure how to handle both her and our job."

"There are nannies you know."

"And a lot of danger in my job. I really don't want her to lose both parents."

Her eyes wandered back to the little girl who had decided to take a closer look into the cabinets. Derek sighed and made his way over to his daughter as fast as he could and picked her up to prevent any possible damage. Avery of course wasn't too fond of his actions and got ready to protest.

"We are going to wait outside, where we cannot break anything valuable." He then announced and started to make his way out of the apartment.

"I'll be there in five minutes." She took a large sip from her coffee, before walking back to her bedroom to find some shoes and a purse in the closet. She only returned to her kitchen to grab the muffin and coffee and then hurried downstairs. By the time, she had reached his car she had finished the muffin and was happily sipping on the coffee.

As they drove in silence, besides Avery's bubbling, she finally couldn't resist any more, asking him the question that had been bothering her since his wake up call: "When are you planning on telling the rest of the team?"

He remained silent and she wasn't sure if he was ever planning on answering her question, when he finally spoke. "I need to figure out what I am going to do first."

"You mean if you decide to stay with the BAU?" She couldn't hide the sharp edge in her voice. She was well aware that his reaction and way of thinking was only natural for a parent, but some egoistical part of her simply didn't want him to leave the team. She didn't want him to leave her.

He glanced over at her, not sure what to make of her tone, but then nodded. "I grew up with one parent and that was hard enough. I cannot imagine what it is like to lose both parents."

There was so much she wanted to say. She wanted to try to change his mind, but she knew that Avery deserved better than that. Therefore, if she couldn't keep her partner in the field, she needed to find the best solution right after that.

"You could just work nine to five and profile in Quantico."

"Are you trying to sell me a desk job?"

"Isn't that the only alternative if you don't go into the field anymore?" She watched as his grin disappeared, taking in the truth in her question. They both knew too well that he hated the paperwork. He was doing this job to actually do something against the bad guys and not merely sit behind a desk.

"I don't know."

He steered the car into the mall parking lot and shortly after they made their way to the first children's clothing store. Emily had taken Avery's hand and was now guiding her through the store. Every once in a while she would hand Morgan a piece of clothing to carry. Both watched in amusement when something caught the little girl's eye and she ran off only to come back, carrying a bright pink dress and handed it over to her father.

"Check the size. I think it might be a little small." Emily said with a grin, before continuing her own shopping. Derek just shook his head, trying to make his fingers work with the pile of clothes on his arm. Indeed the little girl had picked out a dress for a newborn.

"Don't like that anyway," he murmured under his breath and hung the dress on a random rack he passed. Half an hour later he was loaded with clothes and Emily finally seemed satisfied. She had picked Avery up, who looked tired and was therefore rather grumpy.

"So, she really only needs about half of that." The brunette noted with a smug smirk. "The other half would just make her even more adorable."

He nodded before walking towards the cashier. Under his friend's supervising eyes, he sorted through the clothes and finally stopped after about half of them. He heard Emily sigh and shook his head. Who had known his partner was such a shopping fanatic? In fact, he had asked her to join as she seemed the least spendy from all the women in the team. When he stepped away, her eyes were still on the pile the store associates started to put away.

"Hold on." She finally interfered as a green dress was lifted up. "I want this one and this." She grabbed something else from the pile. "And this shirt."

"Emily."

She ignored him and grabbed another skirt and a hairband, before sighing again and allowing the sales associate to take the rest away. As they walked out another bag was added to Derek's load. By the time they made it to the little restaurant they had chosen for lunch, Avery was asleep on her arm. She smiled at the peaceful little girl and carefully laid her down on the wide seat next to her.

"I've got to admit Garcia was right, you make some adorable babies." She looked up at him with a bright smile, before looking over the menu to choose her food.

"You didn't have to buy those clothes!"

She sighed at his change off topic, knowing too well that he had been pondering this the whole way to the restaurant.

"Just let me be the fairy godmother for once. PG will take the role over as soon as she finds out about this little cutie."

She was relieved when she saw a smirk coming to his lips. Their orders came to the table and suddenly she realized how hungry she really was.

"So if you don't want to be the paperwork slave for us and not go back to your old job, what do you have in mind?"

"I honestly don't know. I have to talk some options through with Hotch and then see. But then again that is a problem in itself since I don't have babysitter."

She was about to say that he would have to tell them eventually, but didn't. "I can watch her. I'll just get off work a little early and you can meet him then."

"I might have to."

"You make it sound like it is something horrible." She laughed glancing at the sleeping girl. "Believe me I wouldn't offer if I didn't want to."


	3. Babysitting

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to MaileS, Guest, Paul, PrentissObessed, Starrmyst, Lenika08, 123a456e, Aaliayah13, Nix1978, and Barbra4317. You are all fantastic and I fairly enjoyed reading every word of Feedback.

A few things that answers a couple of the comments/questions: Part of Morgan's career choice is coming up this chapter, but that isn't going to be final. ;) As of Garcia, Avery makes her own choices when it comes to fairy Godmothers. Then since this keeps coming up, Avery mainly likes Emily, because I decided she does. If Em looks like her mom, I couldn't tell you, because the only picture I have of Avery's mom is that she was white. So just use your imagination I guess.

This leaves me to giving some credit to my wonderful BETA :D Thanks so much, girl.

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is and I'm very proud of that.

"**Why are you offering me ten thousand dollars a month for babysitting? You didn't pay the nannies that. It's ridiculous. For ten thousand a month, you should not only get child care, you should get your house cleaned, your laundry done, your tires rotated, and if I were you, I'd insist on nightly blow jobs. Did you think I wouldn't notice that you're still trying to keep your thumb on me?"  
**― Jennifer Crusie, _Maybe This Time_

Babysitting

As promised, Emily had left work early, taking the report of their latest case with her. In fact, she appreciated the excuse to leave the office early, after they had been gone for a case. It didn't really matter where she finished her files, but she needed a break from the building that screamed work at her. As she arrived at Derek's place, she was greeted by the wonderful smell of homemade food.

"Am I interrupting dinner?" She asked with a smirk while he guided her into the kitchen. Avery was seated in her highchair swinging around a wooden spoon. She immediately let out an excited squeal as she saw Emily.

"In fact you are just in time for dinner."

The female agent moved back up from giving the baby a kiss, and eyed her partner.

"You didn't have to make me dinner. I was just going to order some Chinese."

"Too late," He responded with a shrug, and got the pots off the stove to put them on the little table that had a plate and a plastic bowl prepared for her. "Plus you will have to feed this little monster over there and probably give her a bath afterwards."

She shook her head. "You are not going to eat with us?"

"The whole point of you babysitting is that I can go and talk to Hotch," he reminded her with a smirk. "I will warm something up when I get back."

"Okay then." She rolled her eyes, before turning the high chair so Avery was facing her. "It's you and me then, princess."

She soon discovered that Morgan had been right. After eating her share of spaghetti, the little girl needed a bath more than anything. Emily couldn't understand how more food ended up on the baby rather than in her belly. But then again she hadn't been able to stop her from eating with her hands and she wasn't even sure if she was supposed to.

Emily also soon learned that bathing a toddler involved getting herself wet from head to toe as well. After the girl was clean and in diapers again, she took a moment to dry herself. She took off her blouse and hung it over the bathroom door. Her tank top was more comfortable for the moment, but sadly, it was damp as well. Her attention wandered back to where the toddler stood. She smiled as Avery stood there staring at her with big brown eyes.

"Come here sweetie, we need to get you dressed." She picked the little girl up and carried her back to her room where she dressed her in one of her brand new pajamas. When that was done, she set her back down so she could play for a little longer. Avery soon seemed busy enough with her things to be left alone for a moment. The woman hurried downstairs where she had her go-bag from the last case. Originally, she had brought it in for the book inside, but having an extra shirt in there came in handy as well.

It was only a matter of minutes when she came back upstairs, in a wide shirt over her jeans. As she reentered the babies' room, she stopped abruptly as she couldn't see her anywhere.

"Avery?" Her mind was running 100 miles per hour as she stepped back into the hallway. She had closed the baby gate in front of the stairs both times she had passed it that would narrow the search down to the top floor. Her eyes wandered over the shut doors and stopped on the only one that was open. The gap would be just big enough for the toddler to sneak in. As fast as she could she walked over to the door and opened it further as she turned on the light. A small sigh of relief came over her lips when she saw the little girl under the covers of Derek's bed.

"Sweetie that is daddy's bed, you can't just take that over." She walked over to the bed and reached out to retrieve the girl. However, an unpleasant cry was the result and Emily only made it to the door before she looked down in frustration. Big tears were streaming down the little face as Avery did her best to let her babysitter know that she didn't agree with the moving. Therefore, the brunette's eyes wandered back to her partner's bed.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt, right?" She glanced from the bed to the girl and back to the bed. A new plan had formed in her head. A sleeping child would be so much easier to move so why not just let her fall asleep here and then bring her back to her own crib.

"You are going to be one spoiled little princess." She murmured under her breath while she turned back around and tucked the baby in. Avery just stared at her with wide eyes, tears still shinning in them and on her cheeks. Emily sat down next to her, wishing she had brought her book back upstairs, but leaving was not an option right now.

She smiled as she felt the stare on her and put her attention on the little girl: "You are not making this easier. You have to close your eyes."

Avery slightly raised her eyebrows as if she was thinking very hard over the suggestion. Her babysitter couldn't help herself but laugh. With a sigh, she decided to lay down herself and be an example of the procedure. She kicked her shoes of, stretched out on the large bed, and draped her arm delicately across the little girl.

Derek sighed as he quietly closed the door behind himself. It was past ten o'clock and he felt bad. After talking to Hotch, the rest of the team had spotted him and finally convinced him to come out for a drink. He had stuck with one drink, but hadn't been able to leave until only half an hour ago. He could only hope that Avery had not been too much of a pain. Emily was probably exhausted from work. The team had told him that they had just come back from a stressful case and had he known that, he would have never accepted her offer to babysit. However, as usual, she didn't mention it at all.

He checked the living room and kitchen but couldn't find her, so he assumed she was upstairs in Avery's room. He was puzzled when he found neither his partner nor his daughter in the nursery. He opened every door, until he reached his own bedroom. It was the last room he would suspect Emily to go, but it was the only one left and the lights were still on. As he opened the door, his eyes caught a sight that he never wanted to forget.

Avery was lying on her stomach, as she usually slept, with her knees angled underneath her. It was the first time that he saw the pair of pink pajamas on her, but he had to agree with his friend that it looked adorable. Emily was lying next to her, her knees angled and one arm was carefully placed over the girl so she didn't have much room to move, or even worse, to fall out of the bed. A smile came to his lips as he pulled a blanket out of his closet and carefully placed it over the two.

He then turned the light off and quietly closed the door behind himself. He still had a shirt and shorts in his old go-bag that he could wear for sleeping and so he accustomed himself on the pullout bed of his couch. It was not his favorite, but better than waking the girls up. Before falling asleep, he set the alarm in his phone so he could wake Emily in time for her to get to work.

As the morning came, he made some coffee and then headed upstairs. Emily was still asleep, which was only natural after such a hard case and a night of babysitting a one-year old. Avery had moved a little bit but was asleep as well, which would make it easier to talk to the other agent. He walked around the bed and carefully sat down next to her.

"Emily, you need to get up."

He could see her stirring, but she was clearly not too fond of the thought of waking up.

"Em, you really don't want to have to explain to Garcia where you spent the night that you were late." That did the trick. Emily sat up in a heartbeat while looking slightly confused about her whereabouts. "You fell asleep with Avery last night," he explained with a whisper and handed her the coffee, which she gladly accepted.

"This is starting to be a pattern." She noted on the offered hot liquid. "Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked when she was finally awake enough to put the events of the night before back together.

"I thought you needed the sleep and I didn't mind. You still have enough time to stop at your place before work."

Her eyes wandered to his alarm clock and she let out a small groan.

"Did you tell them?"

"What?" Derek's mind took a moment to adjust to her change of topic and he couldn't help himself to ask the silly question. That earned him a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

"Hotch knows."

She sighed and swung her legs out of the bed next to him. It was not her call to make so she would just go with whatever he thought was best.

"I was thinking, even with a desk job you're going to need a nanny. I can give you the number of an old family friend who has many years of experience and is just amazing with children."

"That would probably help," he admitted, glancing over at his sleeping daughter.

She shook her head with a small smile and made her way out of the room, still sipping on her coffee. When she reached downstairs, he was right behind her, watching when she put her dried shirt back into her bag and lifted it up.

"So are you getting a desk job?" She couldn't resist asking the question before leaving. Even after falling in love with his little girl, she was not able to get rid of the nagging feeling of being left behind by her partner.

"Hotch is going to let me work from Quantico for the time being. I will work on the cases with you, but stay here, and when I come home at night, I'll still be available for either you or Hotch to help out."

Emily nodded. It made sense to be only available to the two who knew about the reason for Derek's job change. After all Avery could start crying at any point and that would be a dead giveaway. "What are you going to tell the others? You know whatever you tell Garcia she will dig for evidence."

"Yeah, I haven't figured that out yet."


	4. Minimal Loss

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to Paullyn6, Aaliayah13, Guest, Lena-F, leahloahla, Lenika08, Nix 1978 and 123a456e. You are all fantastic and I enjoyed reading every word of Feedback.

A few things that answer a couple of the comments/questions: As of the 'kiss already', well you will have to be patient for a little longer, but Garcia will find out soon and she is going to love it. Derek's desk job, it's going to be a new experience, and in this chapter already breaking with his own rules. This new chapter is set right after Minimal Loss and Emily is getting a little emotional.

Kendall, I have to say I love you feedback as much as you keep saying that you love mine. So thanks for that and also for finding my spelling and grammar errors.

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is!

**Remember those walls I built**  
**Well, baby they're tumbling down**  
**And they didn't even put up a fight**  
**They didn't even make up a sound.**

-Halo by BEYONCE

Minimal Loss

After giving Reid a long hug, she made her way to the ambulance. She was pretty sure that more than one of her bones was broken or at least cracked. She carefully sat down on the stretcher and had them start working on her. The last three days hadn't quiet caught up with her yet. Under different circumstances she would have gone to this case with her partner, but Derek was still on paperwork duty, although he hadn't told anyone why. It wasn't as if she didn't like spending time with Reid, he just wasn't her partner. Her mood had gone downhill fast when the situation in the sect's house began to escalate. She still didn't know how Cyrus had known that one of them was an FBI agent, but she had known that she couldn't let Reid take the beating. He had been through too much already. The next hours had been heck to her, as she could barely move any part of her body without wincing in pain. However, when she had gotten the signal that help was coming she had convinced herself that the pain wasn't that bad and fought her way out.

"Emily?"

She glanced through the open door of the ambulance to find her partner with a worried expression.

"I'm okay."

He raised a brow at her and helped her as she moved out of the ambulance. They wanted her to go to the hospital and get her ribs checked out, but told her that so far it looked worse than it actually was.

"You know your message for us could have gotten you killed?" He asked quietly while walking over to one of the SUV's.

"I had to stop you from coming in." She didn't even have to ask which message he was talking about, she just instinctively knew that it was the one she had given while being beaten up.

If Emily had looked up, she would have seen him roll his eyes at her attitude. There was no doubt about how stubborn she could be in issues like this, but so was he and that was one of the reasons why they worked so well as partners. A small smile came to his lips as he opened the door for her.

"What are you even doing here?" She had stopped in her moves and glanced to her partner. So far, her brain had to work through to many other problems, but suddenly it came back to her mind that Derek wasn't travelling with the team anymore.

"Well you obviously bring yourself into too much trouble when I'm not there to watch you."

"Funny, but who is with Avery?"

"Sophie, the nanny you recommended. I figured if it was a onetime thing it would be okay."

"Yeah and the fact that you got almost blown up finally proved your point." She added dryly and sank into the seat. Emily wasn't going to lie, she loved Avery and she knew why Derek was making the decisions he was making right now, but that didn't stop her from being upset about it. She was used to having her best friend around most of the time every week and now suddenly everything was so different. In her mind, she had still been trying to find a way of how to get him back into the field, but now that he had almost been blown up in his first case in weeks, all possible ways of convincing him had disappeared.

Morgan closed the door next to her and hurried around the SUV. She tried to relax against the seat, but her back hurt too much to enjoy the quietness. He got in beside her and they rode to the hospital in silence. He made a few attempts of starting a conversation, but Emily ended them rather quickly with her one-word responses.

When she came back out of the hospital, where they had advised her to take a few days off, but cleared her otherwise, she found her partner leaning against the SUV talking on the phone. He gave her a smile, when he noticed her, and then ended the call.

"That was JJ. They arranged for those who made it out, to get places to live. She said our flight will leave at noon." It was not until now that they realized that the sun was up and the day had started even without their approval.

"Great."

She walked past him towards the passenger door.

"Are you going to tell me, how I pissed you off without even being around you?"

"I'm not pissed."

Her tone and the following glare was enough for him to know that she was keeping something from him. His eyes narrowed and he made his way to where she was standing.

"Prentiss, I know something is off, so you tell me."

"I haven't slept in almost three days and was beaten so I can't make a move without hurting somewhere, sorry that I'm not in the mood for small talk."

Derek nodded, but the nagging feeling wasn't leaving him. Reading his partner was just like listening to his gut feeling in a case, but he wasn't sure what it was, and that made it hard to press it out of her.

"What did the doctor say?"

"I need to take it slow. One of my ribs has a crack, but will heal as long as I don't do anything stupid, as the doctor phrased it."

"You could stay with Avery and me. I'm sure she would love to keep you company and you wouldn't sit at home counting the hours, until you are allowed to get back to work."

Somehow, his comment hit home. The pain, tiredness, and hurt feelings combined with her light painkillers did the trick. "Would you stop it?"

"Stop what?"

"Playing the perfect stay-at-home dad."

Morgan's eyes narrowed as he took in her angry features. Without even wanting too, he had come a lot closer to solving the mystery about her bad mood.

"I can't help it that my one-year old daughter needs a dad."

"Yeah and now that you almost blew up, any chance of you coming back into field work just puffed away. I get it." She turned to open the door, but his hand caught her arm. It suddenly dawned on him. He had been so caught up in trying to juggle his job and his new experience as father that he had just assumed she was all right with the changes. After all, she was the one who had suggested accepting a desk job.

"Emily I thought it was clear that I would stay out of the field?"

"I know, I know. Avery already lost her mother and she needs you. Being in the field is too dangerous, we just proved that." She couldn't help herself as she glanced up and caught his eyes. "But you hate paperwork and I was hoping when you have everything else figured out you would change your mind."

Derek was surprised when he saw the tears forming in her eyes.

"You are the first partner in a long time I can really trust and it's weird to not have you around. I know I should be supporting you and I really try."

"Come here." He finally murmured and pulled her in his arms, careful to not hurt her anymore by touching the bruises. After she had gotten so close to his daughter and even volunteered to babysit on a regular basis, he didn't expect such a break down. She melted into his arms not even trying to hold the tears back anymore.

"I will still stick around the BAU, I'm not going anywhere."

"But I'm going. At least twice a month to anywhere in the States where some sick person thinks killing, raping or torturing people is fun."

"And I would love to join you…"

"But you can't. I know." She pushed away from him, leaning against the SUV. "I'm sorry; it's probably the pain killers."

He gave her a small smile, before opening the door for her. He didn't know how he could make her feel better. The agent had been with the law enforcement long enough to know that it was hard to lose a partner, especially if you were close like Emily and he were.

To make up at least a little bit and lighten her mood he decided to take her out for breakfast. He wasn't sure how much she had been given to eat while held hostage and he was hungry as well. The breakfast was quiet and if anything made him feel worse about the situation. When they boarded the plane, she claimed one of the seats that stood alone, only leaving it once to cheer Reid up.

They didn't exchange another word and when he came back from Hotch's office to hand him his files, Emily had disappeared.

When she had gotten home that night Emily had crawled up on her couch and only wanted to forget about everything. Now after a night of sleep and with less pain from her wounds she felt embarrassed over the scene she had made in front of him. Yes, she missed him at work, but was it worth the scene? No.

The brunette had woken up early in the morning and took a long shower, before she nestled back onto the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Hotch had told her to stay home for a few days and relax. Now that she had lost it in front of her partner as she had, she would actually accept the offer and stay away from the office as long as possible.

What she didn't plan on was her partner showing up at her doorstep a few hours later. She sighed as she found him in front of her door and didn't have much time to protest, as Avery already travelled into the apartment.

"You were going to invite us in anyway, right?" He asked with a smirk.

"I suppose so."

She turned and moved back into the apartment. They found the little girl in the living room where she was busy in her task to climb unto the couch. Derek sat down one of the bags he was carrying and opened it up. Avery seemed to already know what was coming, as she gave up on the couch and started to pull her toys out of the bag.

"I was going to bring lunch, but I didn't know what you wanted and it is still a little early, so I decided it would be better to just order from here."

She raised a brow at him. Sometimes Emily got the feeling that he was too good to be true. Every other of her former partners would have been mad at her and not offered to pay for lunch. They sat in silence. Neither knew what to say, or how to accurately express their feelings.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." The tough woman finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for letting you down."

She looked at him. She had expected anything but an apology from him. If she remembered correctly, she had been the one to yell at him without any reason. She was about to protest, but he lifted his hand to stop her from speaking.

"When Elle left everything was just weird. Hotch and Gideon worked together, JJ and Reid were something like partners and Elle had been mine. Yes, I still belonged to the team, but at the same time, I felt left alone. Your partner is the one you talk too. You spend your time with that person. Believe me I was glad when they finally transferred you in."

His eyes rested on her. She knew that he was trying to read her. The silence that now spread between them was a lot more comfortable than the one earlier.

"I understand that you want your partner back and I really wish I could. That paperwork pile is going to drive me insane sometime soon."

A smile spread across his face, when he saw her chuckle.

"There we go, you are laughing again. Now tell me how you are doing when it comes to the injuries Cyrus has given you."

"I feel a lot better than yesterday, but I still hurt with every move I make."

She raised her eyebrow in irritation as he showed a satisfied grin. When he noticed her expression, he hurried to shake his head. He stood up to gather Avery from the floor and place her on the couch between them.

"That's why we are here. Our mission is to make sure you rest and feel better," he announced proudly and the little girl clapped her hands together in delight.


	5. Accident

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to Paullyn6, 123a456e, Guests, Lenika08, leahloahla, TVHollywoodDiva, PreciousAngle15(Gruß zurück nach Deutschland), jhplug, and Aaliayah13, especially those of you who have just joined this week. I'm so thrilled that you like this story and hope that it continues to be pleasurable for you. Please let me know if you have any ideas, wishes, concerns or just planly what you would enjoy to read.

Glad you liked the fact that I abused our little girl to cheer Emily up and make the chapter a little better after all the drama, I think she will do it again in this chapter. As of some of the comments, Emily might have gotten a little too much into it, but with hiding her true feelings so well, I imagine there is a lot stored until it finally breaks free. I figured that Morgan wasn't the player anymore, now that he has the responsibility towards his daughter. This next chapter has not only Pen's, but also the team's first reaction towards Avery. And of course loads of drama.

Kendall (I even spelled it right on the first try this time :D ), what Emily lover doesn't love Minimal Loss, and then of course perfect to put Derek in the picture with it, but with enough fantasy I realized you can always put those two in the same picture. P.S. I might have been kidding when I said I have no idea what you are talking about, so read the chapters so I can actually admit it, and give up my dramatic, suspending self (for now.)

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is!

"**Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back."**  
― Mitch Albom, _For One More Day_

Accident

It was Emily's last day off. Hotch had insisted that she take two weeks, before coming back to work because of her injuries from the sect case. However, after initially complaining, she had found herself rather enjoying the time off. Derek and Avery had come over almost every night after he was done with work, or he would invite her to their place to make it easier with the little girl's bed times. The female agent couldn't remember a time in years where she had had so much fun during a forced down time. Usually she would simply sit home and be bored, which provoked her to come back early.

It was Friday and since Sophie had a doctor's appointment she had spent the day with little Avery at Derek's place. For the night they had planned to have dinner together, but when Garcia texted an invitation to the team night she assumed it would be getting later and finally prepared the toddler for bed. Little did she know that he was not going to come home that night and when her phone started to ring in her bag downstairs, she had fallen asleep on the chair placed next to the Avery's bed.

"Emily is still not answering her phone."

"She is on downtime, so maybe she is out of town." Rossi sat on one of the chairs trying to bring some reasoning into his colleagues and friends.

"But she has to know what happened." Garcia piped up. Her eyes were red with tears and the tissue in her hand was almost gone.

"I'm sure she is going to call us as soon as she looks at her phone." Hotch said as he stopped his pacing and looked at his team. Their nerves were all down; everyone was worried that Derek would not make it.

"It's probably good that she isn't here. We can't do anything either. In fact, JJ you should go home and get some rest. We will call you as soon as we hear something."

However, the blonde-haired woman shook her head. Even six months pregnant, she wouldn't leave while one of her team and family members was at risk. Hotch had been called a few hours ago about a car accident. While at first confused he jumped into action as soon as he heard Morgan had been involved. As the black agent had been the only one besides Emily not attending the team night he could share the news fast and everyone hurried to the hospital.

An hour later the team leader looked up as he heard hurried footsteps. Emily had woken up from her uncomfortable position in the chair and made her way downstairs. The messages on her phone had soon enough explained why Derek still wasn't home. She had not gone through the trouble to change Avery into a day outfit. Thankfully, he had left the toddlers car seat with her, just in case.

She now held the grumpy one-year old in her arms and breathed out in relief when she found her friends in the waiting area.

"Where is Morgan?"

"Still in surgery. We haven't heard from them in a while though." Hotch got up offering her the chair, but she refused. Avery was winding in her arms, close to showing how unhappy she was with the interruption of her sleep.

"But what happened? I thought he went to the team night."

"He said he had other plans for the night and then Hotch got the phone call." JJ had one hand on her belly, but her eyes were fixed on the little girl in her friend's arms.

"Other plans." Emily let out a gasp and sank on the chair, but Avery didn't like that at all. Without even realizing it her babysitter got back up and started to rock her in the hope to bring her back to sleep.

"Emily, who is that child?"

Only now did she realize that everyone besides Hotch was staring at her. Her boss had put one and one together as soon as he had taken a closer look at the little girl, but no one else knew the reason for Morgan's stepping back. Emily's eyes widened at the question and she glanced at the girl, who was now whimpering in her arms.

"I…" For the shortest moment, she swore she would shoot her partner as soon as he got out of surgery for not telling them a thing. She watched as Rossi raised a brow at her.

"Avery Morgan. Derek's daughter."

Garcia let out a gasp and her jaw dropped. Rossi simply smiled, which proved to her that he already had put the puzzle pieces together. Their media liaison had an even bigger smile on her lips, JJ had always been the one with the soft spot for children, but since she was pregnant it came through even more. Hotch seemed as relieved as Emily was that Avery was finally introduced to everyone. Reid on the other hand was the first one to speak again. His brain needed more facts to make sense of everything.

"But Morgan isn't seeing anyone."

"Spence you don't have to date to make a child."

"I know that JJ, but why didn't he tell us about her?"

Emily carefully shifted the little girl in her arms. She had calmed down again, but she was getting heavy and her babysitter hoped she would fall asleep soon, so she could lay her on one of the chairs.

"He didn't know about her until a few weeks ago. When he had his downtime that's when he first met her."

"That was two month ago." Reid had done the math a lot faster than anyone else had, but Garcia also looked a little upset.

"He said her mom died in an accident and they needed him to take her in or she would get into the system. Going from womanizer to the father of a one-year old in a few days hit him pretty hard and he didn't want to tell anyone about her before he had everything figured out."

"But why do you know?" Penelope got up and walked over. She slowed down a little to take the little features in. "And why do you have her right now?"

"I was worried because of his down time and happened to be at his place when little miss Avery here decided that yelling at her dad was more fun than sleeping. I told him to tell you, but at the end, it was not my decision to make. If I hadn't run into that situation I would probably not know either."

If Emily hadn't built up the thick wall around her emotions, she would probably start crying by now. She could see the slightly betrayed looks and sense the hurt feelings in the room, but what was she supposed to do? Betray her partner and lose his trust?

"And his nanny was sick and so I took care of her today," was her quiet answer to the last question.

Garcia gave her a long glare, before she started to smile, if Emily wasn't mistaken it was even a grin: "You should wear babies more often. She looks good on you."

The quirky blonde came closer and carefully reached for one of the little hands. Avery wasn't too impressed, and although she didn't pull her hand away she hid her face in the agent's neck.

"No reason to hide. That's going to be your favorite aunt Penelope. She is going to spoil you so much that your dad might hate her." Everyone in the waiting room was laughing and even the stoic Hotch showed a smile.

"She is right Avery. Your dad might take away my credit card, but I tell you what I'm smarter than that."

The little girl shot a hurried glance towards the tech, before ducking back into the safety of Emily's arms. The brunette readjusted her in her tired arms, before whispering something in her ear. When she ended, Avery looked up at her with an unsure expression. She then shot another shy glance towards her new aunt.

"How did Derek Morgan produce a shy child like her?" Rossi teased from his chair. Something about his tone seemed to amuse the little girl as much as everyone else. She squealed and clapped her hands together.

"Oh I see you prefer your uncle Rossi, or should I say grandpa?" Penelope piped up glancing over to the older agent.

"Hey now, Uncle Dave will work just fine. Grandpa is something for old men."

The room was filled with laughter and for a short moment, the worried and tense atmosphere was forgotten. Emily finally sat back down with the toddler cuddled in her arms with heavy eyes. Garcia sat right next to her, but had to find that sleeping seemed more important to the girl right now.

The brunette had dozed off on the uncomfortable chair as well, but was bright awake as soon as a male voice asked for the family of Derek Morgan. She shifted slowly to not wake Avery up, but far enough so, she was sitting straight up again.

"Well he was really lucky. He has a concussion so he'll have a headache for a while. He had several open wounds from the glass flying around him and bruises all over, but the only real injury was his knee. His leg was caught and twitched around while colliding. We were able to fix that and if he takes it slow we should be able to get it back to full function. It was more a matter of detailed work that took so long than the seriousness of injuries."

"Can we see him?" Garcia had jumped up and approached the doctor.

"Maybe not the whole group, but one or two can go in for a few minutes. He is still drugged from the surgery so don't expect too much of a conversation."

Penelope turned around, everyone knew that she wanted nothing more than to go in and making sure her chocolate thunder was okay, but her eyes fell on Emily and Avery, which technically counted as two people.

"I can talk to him tomorrow. I need to call his mother anyway and inform her." Hotch stepped back from the group.

"Well I'm trapped with her. Just tell him that I'll take care of her as long as he is here." Emily responded quietly to the questioning look. Avery was finally asleep and she wasn't planning on changing that again.

"But wouldn't he want to see her?" Garcia's face showed the worry again.

"I can hold her, that way you can go in and arrange things with him." JJ offered from her chair.

"So Garcia and Emily it is?" Rossi glanced to Reid for his okay. As the other man nodded, it seemed like the brunette was outvoted. She got up carefully balancing the baby and then placing her into JJ's waiting arms. She let out a breath of relief when Avery slept through the movement.

The two women then followed the doctor to Morgan's room. He had been right, the man was barely awake, but enough to direct his worried glance on Emily almost immediately.

"The bad news is your little secret is spilled, the good news Avery seems to like the army of aunts and uncles out there." She knew exactly what her partner needed to hear without him asking any questions. When she saw him relax into his bed, she couldn't help but smile. It might have been a shock, but he slowly grew into the role of dad.

"You scared me to death. Never do that again." Penelope rushed the last few steps to the bed interrupting the moment without noticing. "And don't you dare to ever hide adorable Mini Morgans from me again."

"Sorry baby girl." He was too tired to go more into detail.

"You are forgiven. Just hurry and get out of here, and I better get fairy godmother rights on Avery."

He chuckled softly. It was good to know that there were people that cared for him that much. He was about to respond when the tech's phone went off.

"Oh that's probably Kevin. I'll be back, don't you dare get into more trouble while I'm gone." With that, she hurried out of the room.

Emily was still standing a few steps away where she had stopped when walking in. Her eyes were set on him, taking in the bruises and cuts on his arms.

"You can come closer. They said nothing about me being contagious." Derek had his usual teasing smirk on his lips.

"With your luck you might manage that too."

His smirk grew as he watched her step closer: "So you gave up the fairy godmother position?"

"There wasn't much else to do. I had to bring her and you owe me."

"Why do I owe you?" He exclaimed in a teasing matter.

"First off all I had to justify the fact that YOU kept your daughter a secret and second for scaring the heck out of me." Her voice cracked over the second part and she had to take a deep breath to keep her emotions down.

Besides the tiredness that more and more claimed his consciousness, he stared at her intensely. He could see that she was barely able to hold it together.

"Emily, I'm so sorry. I meant to come home to have dinner with you and Avery. The roads were slick from rain and of what I remember that other car was out of control."

"Well when you didn't come, I assumed you were going to the team night. I got a text inviting me. So I took Avery to bed and fell asleep on that horrible rocking chair in her room."

"I make you dinner for a year whenever you want to."

"You won't be able to walk for a while." She shot back, but smiles spread on both of their faces.

A gentle knock on the door interrupted them. JJ's head popped in and was followed by a little person pushing the door open far enough to get inside.

"I'm sorry. She woke up and needed dada or _Emi_." Jennifer put emphasize on the second name, but the pair did not even seem to notice, which put a small smile on her face.

"I'm going to leave then. Spence is giving me a ride. Hotch and Rossi already left. Hotch says your mom will fly in tomorrow, he will make sure she gets here."

Derek let out a small groan. He had hoped that his mom hadn't heard about it yet and that he could play it down.

"Thanks Jayje." Emily had pulled up Avery and sat her on her father's bed. The little girl soon enough had all his attention has he tried to move the bundle of energy into a direction where his body didn't hurt.


	6. His girls

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to Lenika08, paullyn6, 123a456e, LenaF, leahloahla, jhplug, TVHollywoodDiva, anlemi, Barbra4317, RealMe07, Guest, and Guest, especially those of you who have just joined this week. I'm so thrilled that you like this story and hope that it continues to be pleasurable for you. Please let me know if you have any ideas, wishes, concerns or just plainly what you would enjoy to read.

As of the comments, Avery and Em are for sure getting close, but that's the whole point of inventing Avery in the first place. Having Derek in the accident is mainly so he can change his mind on one important topic and you will see what that is when reading the chapter. Mama Morgan is definitely putting some thoughts into their heads, but if they follow her ideas, well you'll see.

My lovely lovelover, I'm glad you are still putting up with me, although I was more writing on the missing moments this week than on my story, but it was my honor. I added some new sentences, I'll leave it to you to find them. :D

Criminal Minds is not mine (or they would be married by now), but Avery is!

"His girls"

"**What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn't just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn't expect them to be. You can't make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it."**  
― Sarah Dessen, _Lock and Key_

Derek had been released from the hospital a week after his accident. It was now three weeks later and his injuries were healing up well and with the help of his mother and Emily, he had no chance of making any step he wasn't supposed to. When Fran had arrived, she had asked her son's partner to stay with her and her granddaughter in order to have at least one person around the little girl was used to seeing. By now, Avery had her grandma wrapped around her little finger and Emily's help was barely needed, but still requested. Fran's watching eyes hadn't missed how attached the toddler was to the brunette.

The injured agent had kept, or rather insisted on, his promise on making dinner for his partner whenever she wanted it or sometimes even when he just decided that she needed to eat with them. When asked he assured everyone that it was merely for Avery's sake, who loved and adored the other agent, but he couldn't deny that he enjoyed a glass of wine with her either.

As his knee was good enough to carefully walk on again, he had decided to surprise "his girls" with a picnic in the park. The day before he had convinced his mother that she could fly back to Chicago; he loved spending time with her, but at some point a grown man needed his own life back. Since she would leave the next day he wanted to thank her for the help and as he was on thanking, he invited Emily along as well.

Everything was set up at a small picnic table in the park close to the playground; all he had to do was unpack the food. When he reached the table, he was only able to get out one bowl, before his mother's hands appeared next to him.

"Would you leave that alone?" His hand gently slapped against hers, much like she had done to him as a little boy, who had been trying to steal a piece of cake.

"I was only going to help."

"Mama, this is from me for you and I'm healthy enough to set up a table. So you go and play with that granddaughter your ordered."

Fran glanced at her son. A smile came to her lips as he continued spreading the food on the table. She finally turned to see that Emily had already freed the little girl from the straps of the stroller. Avery had set her eyes on the playground but her shy side came through once again and she refused to make even one step in that direction.

For the shortest moment, the older woman's eyes went from her granddaughter to the woman, whom she had only known as an agent investigating her son's murder case. Of course, she had already figured through phone calls that Derek and his partner had grown quite close, but seeing them interact put a whole new angle on it. Emily quietly talked to Avery assuring her that the slide would be a lot of fun. While the dream of having grandchildren had always involved a kind wife for Derek in her mind, she now decided that a plan B was needed. If he didn't see the love offered towards his daughter she would just have to make him see it.

"Avery, how about you come with Grandma to the swings?" She earned herself big eyes, but finally the little girl accepted the hand she had held out for her and the pair slowly walked towards the playground.

The female agent smiled before moving over to the table to help her friend. Her hand made it only halfway to the basket, before she got the same slap on the wrist like his mother minutes before.

"What was that for?" she asked with slight irritation.

"The two of you have been fiddling around me for the past three weeks and now, for once, I want to prepare a meal, so sit down and relax."

He pulled a bowl full of strawberries out of the basket, before putting it underneath the table. At first, she watched him while he started in the process of making sandwiches, but then her eyes wandered over to where Fran and Avery were on a swing. The older woman had the girl safely on her lap and both seemed to enjoy the experience.

"What do you want on your sandwich?"

"Huh?" Emily glanced back at her partner and then down at the piece of bread in his hand.

"The sandwich, do you want ham or turkey?"

"You don't have to…" She didn't get further, before she noticed his raised eyebrow. She sighed: "Ham."

A few minutes later, she had a sandwich placed in front of her and he also took a large bite of his own.

"So I need your opinion."

"On what?" She managed to ask between swallowing bites.

"Well when I was in the hospital I came to realize that I did everything to keep myself out of the range of shooting maniacs and then some poor guy lost control over his car and I ended up in the hospital anyway."

He took another bite, giving her time to work through what he was saying, but even more trying to read her reaction.

"So I was thinking I might as well go back into active duty as soon as my knee is cleared."

Emily's eyes grew wide. She slowly put down her sandwich while swallowing the last bite she had taken. After the accident she had expected a lot, but certainly not this. Maybe an even more worried Morgan who didn't want to leave his daughters side anymore, but not this.

"Well it's not only the shooting maniacs; you will also be gone a lot."

"I talked to Sophie, she would be willing to have a full day position. I can clean up one of my other spare rooms with a bed and closet for her."

"You are really going to do this?"

He saw the doubt written all over her face as he studied her closely.

"I was hoping you would be a little bit more excited about getting your partner back."

Her eyes widened and he smirked as he watched her trying to find the right words to prove him wrong on her missing excitement.

"I'm just surprised, that's all. I thought you were okay with the desk job, since the payout was time with Avery."

"And I think it will look like I'm a horrible dad, but I can stay behind for important things, just as long as my life doesn't consist of paperwork anymore."

She nodded slowly before taking a last bite and finishing her sandwich. This whole issue left her so torn. Part of her was just happy to have her partner back and now she could stop feeling like the fifth wheel in the team, but the other part was worried for Avery and her relationship to her dad. She remembered too well how it felt to have parents who worked full time and she didn't want this adorable girl to feel left behind like she always had.

"Dada, Emi." They both looked up, as the little girl came flying over the grass. Fran was only few steps behind her, but still wasn't able to stop her from stumbling over a rock and falling. A short look on hand and feet told Fran that she was okay, but the big tears still started to roll over the cheeks.

"It's okay sweetheart."

But Avery didn't want to hear that from her grandma. Her eyes flew over to where her dad had stood up from his seat. Right behind him she found what she wanted. Although surprised by the girls choice Emily didn't hesitate a second on catching the girl in her arms. Big tears were still streaming down her cheeks and heavy sobs came from the little chest.

Derek was too worried about his daughter to pay attention to the smile his mother had on her lips. Fran stood back up and watched from a few feet away. The brunette was quietly talking to the toddler assuring her that everything was fine. Slowly the sobs became less and Emily seemed to have found something else to focus Avery's attention on. With the baby still safe in the woman's arms, they walked off to the small lake some distance away.

Fran smiled and finally sank onto the bench next to her son.

"There is something special between those two. Emily had her figured out when I was still trying to keep her from being hysterical." Derek shook his head in amazement.

"Mother's instinct."

"There should be something like that for fathers." He replied totally missing her hint on a possible mother for his little girl and a wife for him.

"Maybe that just means you have to find yourself a stable relationship."

Their glances crossed as he shot her a glare only to notice that her eyes were fixed on him.

"You know now that I have my grandbaby, I would like a daughter-in-law too."

"Mama, I really have other problems right now. I don't have time for dating."

"Maybe you just need to open your eyes and you will find that it's already there."

He turned to take his mother fully in. His eyebrows were arched showing the slight irritation in his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll figure it out." That unsatisfying answer earned her another glare. "Would you make me a sandwich now, since I'm not allowed to touch anything?"

He didn't like it but he gave in. When Emily and Avery returned half an hour later, the little girl was tightly hugging a stuffed duck from the souvenir shop. Only reluctantly did she allow her father and grandmother a short glance at the new toy, before pressing it back on her chest.

"We saw ducks on the lake and she wanted to take one home. I figured you would prefer the stuffed version, although I'm sure I could find someone who would sell me a real one and we could have her live in your bath tub." She hurriedly explained her purchase, as she already saw his protest on the new present coming.

"She has a point." Fran smirked to her son. She put the last bowl back in the basket and they made their way back. By the time they reached the car, Avery had fallen asleep in her stroller, still hugging the duck tightly.

Back at Derek's house, Emily was ready to leave the three Morgans, but he wouldn't let her. Fran only shook her head at the scene and carefully carried her granddaughter to the house where she could continue her nap.

"You can have dinner with us and maybe watch a movie later on?"

"I think you should spend some time with your mom. We can watch movies some other night." The brown-haired woman would have loved to spend more time, but while Derek seemed oblivious, she had not missed the hopeful look on Fran's face whenever she was interacting with her son. The bad thing was that Emily caught herself way to often with the same hopeful thought and there was simply no way of that happening.


	7. Morning Run

Thank you so much everyone who review and/or favorite/followed this story. Thanks to paullyn6, Lena-F, leahloahla, Lenika08, RealMe07, CrimeFan23, rmpcmfan, Guest, 123a456e, Aaliayah13, and Nix1879, especially those of you who have just joined this week. I'm so thrilled that you like this story and hope that it continues to be pleasurable for you. Please let me know if you have any ideas, wishes, concerns or just plainly what you would enjoy to read.

Comments to comments, nah I don't think I'm going to hurt Emily, well maybe emotionally. Would be a good way, but that would be a real stereotype after he was already hurt. Yeah I think Emily would understand Avery's feelings with Derek going back to work and not having enough time for her. But no worries it is going to work out for Avery. As of Emily falling for him and Derek not seeing it I'm sure Avery and Fran will sort that out.

Kendall, thanks for making it with me through my stressful week by giving me fantasticness to read. I will work on some more reading material for you starting Tuesday night, when I can actually afford spending time on something like that. For now this will have to do. Oh this chapter is for you, since you basically gave me the idea for it, when I was desperate.

Criminal Minds is not mine (or they would be married by now), but Avery is!

PS. Sorry about the mix-up. must not like me tonight.

Morning Run

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."  
― Martin Luther King Jr.

It was still early morning and the park was almost empty. She could see a few runners who were on their morning routine around the lake. On a bench down the way, she could see the sleeping figure of a homeless person. Emily wrapped her arms tightly around herself. It had gotten cold in the past few weeks and she was glad that it wasn't her sleeping on that bench. She couldn't believe how fast the warm summer had changed into fall and now slowly the cold was creeping over Washington D.C. and announced the coming of winter. When she released a breath, she could see a little white cloud form in front of her. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which she preferred for running, but now that she was waiting, her ears started to feel cold. She brought up her two gloved hands and put them over her ears, while throwing another impatient glance towards the parking lot.

He was late and knew that she would chew him out for it, but at least his excuse was seated in her stroller in front of him. Avery had been anything but fond to be interrupted in her sleep, just so her father could go for an early morning run. He had stayed in Vegas a lot longer than originally planned, but his gut feeling had told him that Reid needed their help, or at least a little bit of support from his friends. Emily, together with Penelope, had agreed to give Sophie a break occasionally and take care of his little girl, but he was glad to be back and spend time with her.

Therefore, now he wanted to use the rest of the days off Hotch had given them. Spending some time with Emily seemed more than convenient in this case. They had been close as partners before Avery had come into his life, but since the night when she had uncovered his secret, they had grown even closer. While his daughter was a welcome excuse to spend time with his partner, it also was one of his favorite things to do lately. The partners had so many more things in common than their love for Vonnegut books and they just slowly discovered them. Often Avery would be in bed for hours before Emily finally left after a long talk or various movies they watched together.

His eyes found her standing at the end of the small path he was heading to down towards the lake. Derek smiled when he saw her press her hands on top of her ears, just another thing he would be chewed out for. He sped up a little bit to make the last few steps towards her faster.

"I'm so sorry."

"There is no excuse for having a woman freeze for fifteen minutes, Derek Morgan."

"Well, I could try." He smirked as she raised her eyebrow expectantly. "Avery thought that 6:30 AM is just not the right time to meet for running in a cold park. So I had to bribe her with warm clothes, a huge breakfast of cookies, and the outlook of seeing Emi."

The last part had the expected effect and a small smile came to her lips. She crouched down in front of the stroller and took in the sight of the little girl, snuggled into a warm layer of clothes and blankets wrapped around her. Her smile changed into a smirk as her eyes found the head of the stuffed duck, she had given Avery a few weeks ago, sticking out from underneath the blanket. Her hand softly touched the little cheek caressing it for a moment before she stood back up.

"Well I guess I could let you get away with it this one time."

"That's too kind of you."

She rolled her eyes at him, while turning towards their running track.

"Or I could make you pay for it, by outrunning you, old man." She teased before setting off to getting some distance between them, before slowing down to her normal running speed. However, soon after she slowed down enough for him to catch up, after all the whole point of them running together was each other's company. They didn't talk much while continuing their laps, both to concentrate on the running and to keep their breathing steady.

"Let that be the last lap, I think Avery is going to get tired of this soon."

"Okay."

She glanced over at him, considering her chances. She then sped up with a smirk on her lips. Just because she had wanted his company didn't mean that she wouldn't be first to end their workout.

"Hey!" Emily glanced back at his exclaim and her smirk transformed into a grin, before she started to push herself even harder. At the end, she noticed that had been unnecessary, as she had time to catch her breath and do some stretching before he reached the ending point of the lap.

"That wasn't fair."

"What?" Her eyes grew wide at his complain.

"My knee injury is still not completely healed."

"Oh come on, that was weeks ago and if Hotch was here you would never say that."

"Well than I had a stroller that slowed me down. Extra weight included." He countered at her.

She laughed brightly, releasing her leg she had been stretching.

"Well I take Avery next time and prove to you that I will still win."

"Challenge is on."

"Good."

They stared at each other for a moment, before both started laughing at their childish encounter.

"Well I guess the loser pays for coffee?" He gave her an expectant look.

"Sure, I'm not going to say no to that."

They walked back to their cars with the agreement to meet in a café close by for breakfast. Both of them were hungry and neither wanted to go home so it didn't take much for them to get back together. The place was still empty as most orders around that time were take-outs. They chose a small table furthest away from the walk through traffic and soon after got their orders. Avery, still content with her breakfast earlier in the morning and now finally in a warm environment, soon dozed off on the bench next to Morgan, leaving the pair to an adult conversation.

"So I've got to know: What happened in Vegas?"

"Excuse me?" Emily looked up from her omelet, not exactly sure what he was talking about, or maybe not quite yet willing to admit that she knew very well what he meant.

"Oh come on. I have never seen you so hungover before. Saying that you hate Vegas is not going to pull it out."

She glanced at him, before looking back down at her breakfast. He had a point, but her explanation was not as exciting as he was probably thinking right now. She poked her fork into her eggs considering for the split of a second to fill her mouth with food to get more time to think, but in the end that would not save her.

"Well I was playing in the hotel casino and was winning of course, which needs to be celebrated. And then I'm not exactly sure how I got back to my room, because the next thing I remember after my last big win is the headache I had the morning after."

"You have memory loss?" She looked up for a split second to see his wide grin.

"Yea, as sad as that sounds for an FBI agent, who knows too well what could have happened to me in all those missing hours, I have no clue."

His toothy grin widened and she suddenly had the feeling that he might actually know more about that night than she did. She sat her fork down to concentrate on her glare for him.

"What do you know?"

"Well I might have walked in on you while you were trying to convince the bartender to give you another drink."

Her eyebrow rose, not sure yet how this story would end for her. In the best case, she just embarrassed herself a little in her drunkenness; in the worst case she did something she really didn't want to remember at all.

"You were really using your charm, but it didn't work on him. Therefore, I worked my charm on you, and convinced you that your room had a minibar and took you upstairs. Turned out that you fell asleep, before I could even worry about how to keep you away from the bar."

"Oh." Emily had expected worse than that. Being escorted by Morgan and falling asleep was by far not the worst thing she could have done in those missing hours.

"Well I owe you a thank you then."

"No problem. It was definitely worth the trouble." His smirk was still in place.

"Oh shut up."

She felt her cheeks become warm and cursed herself for the reaction. It wasn't like her to blush at all, especially not in front of her partner. It made her look like a little girl that had been caught in something embarrassing.

"Oh look at that, Emily Prentiss is blushing."

She swallowed another bite, not looking up until she felt the blush lessen on her face.

"So how did the whole thing with Reid go?" She had only briefly met the young genius while visiting JJ and her baby boy, but didn't think that was be the right time to ask that question.

"I think he is okay now that he finally talked everything through with his parents. That probably was more important than solving the case."

She nodded slowly. They all had their old horrors waiting for them to be found again. She had not only her mother that gave her troubles but also a past that she had put far away in the back of her mind. She smiled slightly when she took in his image as he took another bite. At least she knew now that she wouldn't be alone. Just like for Reid the team would be there to catch her, whenever she would fall because of one of those old horrors.


	8. Snowflakes

Okay people, thanks for the reviews (the long thank you talk will come in the next chapter). Thanks to Kendall for the fast proofreading and patience. The next chapter will still come up this weekend so no worries about this being so short, it just needed to be a drabble, because it is for the Christmas/Winter Competition. The prompt was **"Snowflakes, or first snowfall"** from Day 1 and that is what I made out of it. Word count is 500.

Snowflakes

It had been a long week for him. The team had come back from the case on Monday and therefore after a day off, the team was loaded with paperwork. With JJ absent and Jordan still working through the administration and getting used to the job, they had gotten a break from the travel. Now it was Friday afternoon and the team was still in town, which gave Derek the possibility to get home early. Emily would be coming over a few hours later to join him and his little girl for dinner, but until then it was father-daughter time. His eyes wandered to Avery who was chasing her ball through the backyard, while he checked the new sandbox for any possible hazards for her.

A small smile came to his lips when the ball hit his back and sprung off into a different direction. He could hear the giggle of the little girl and assumed that the toddler had not accidentally thrown the ball in this very direction. Derek got up and looked around pretending confusion.

"Where did that ball come from?"

He wandered off in one direction, but then abruptly turned and snatched the girl up into his arms swinging her through the air, which left her squealing and giggling. He smiled and then set her back down. She then set off to get her ball, while he went towards the porch to sit down on the stairs. It was these moments when he doubted his decision of going back to the team and traveling. He loved his job and the action in it, and the paperwork job he had had a couple of months ago, had been extremely boring, but he felt like Avery deserved more of a parent. Sophie, of course, was a great help as a nanny and was something like a grandmother to his daughter, but at the end it was the mom and dad that should influence a child's life.

Thankfully, he could push those thoughts into the back of his mind as his little girl came running towards him, holding the ball in front of her. She might not have been a boy, but he felt like she would turn into a master softball player one day, another thing he was worried about. She was a girl and there were things a father just couldn't show her. Avery needed a mother.

The girl stopped in front of him and then threw the ball over her head into another direction. He smiled as she pointed towards it, expecting him to get it as a dog would.

"Maybe you should throw it towards me." He suggested.

"Or I get you a dog." He mumbled quietly.

Derek grabbed the ball, but as he turned back around something else had her attention. She held her hand out to catch the soft white flakes. Smiling he picked her up, as she caught more snowflakes with her tiny hands.

It was his first snow with his daughter.


	9. Mommy

Hello everyone, thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter and the drabble. It amazes me how many people keep up with my reading. Therefore thanks to Xyrah329, CrimeFan23, Lena-F, Lenika08, Aaliayah13, paullyn7, Nix1978, rmpcmfan, leahloahla, guest, , KazyCMfan, A1fictiongrl, RealMe07, and TVHollywoodDiva.

Sorry again for the confusion with chapter 7, while uploading I must have somehow chosen the wrong chapter. Thanks to those who told me and I hope you could still enjoy 7. Las Vegas is one of the episodes that left so many questions open and I probably didn't properly answer them either, but that's all I could fit into the story line. And yes they are getting closer, which might be an issue, just saying. Leahloahla, as of now you might be over thinking it. I will pick up Demonology though, but that is still far in the future (the story is late fall, early winter right now and Demonology doesn't come up until March. And again to guest, I will bring some up, but the real angsty past won't show up unless I write the sequel I have in mind. As of Dereks thoughts in 8, they will come up again very soon. This chapter will tell you why.

Thanks as always to Kendall, without her, I couldn't do this.

Mommy

"**You couldn't have strength without weakness, you couldn't have light without dark, you couldn't have love without loss"**  
― Jodi Picoult, _The Tenth Circle_

They had gotten back from their first real case with Jordan a couple of hours ago and it was still weird for all of them that JJ wasn't around. The tough blonde was part of the family and, as for anyone else; it was hard for Jordan to fit into the group. Emily sat in her chair staring at the folder in front of her. She hadn't worked on anything for the past ten minutes, since she was caught up in her thoughts. Agent Todd was a fabulous agent and if she got her chance, she would prove herself just as Emily had. She understood how hard it was to join the team. Even Rossi had been established faster than Emily had, simply because everyone knew what he had done for the unit, before anyone else in the team had even thought about joining the BAU. Then again, Rossi most likely didn't carry around as many secrets as she did, thanks to her Interpol time.

Her eyes wandered over to where Derek sat focused on the file he had gotten from Jordan to keep his promise. That's where her problem with Jordan started. She was wrapping him around her little finger and Emily didn't like it, which brought her to the next problem. There wasn't much she could do about it. Yes, she spent every free moment with her partner and his daughter, but that didn't bring her into the position of deciding whom he was seeing. It didn't even give her permission to be jealous like she was, especially when there was no reason. If it wasn't for Avery and the immense amount of time she spend with the two she probably wouldn't even mind him flirting, because that was just everyone's right.

Morgan looked up sensing her stare on him and smiled instantly.

"Hi, can I ask you a favor?"

"What would that be?"

"Go to my place and let Sophie escape into the weekend I promised her off."

"Sounds like you are making a lot of promises lately." She could see in his face that her reaction had come out a lot harsher than it should have.

"Well I would like to get this done before the weekend. I'll make you dinner." If she refused to go play with his adorable daughter for whatever reason, he usually got her with the food offer. Emily grimaced knowing exactly what card he was playing.

"I guess." She grabbed her bag and the stack of files she was supposed to be working on. She wouldn't be any more distracted with her thoughts at home than here, so she could as well go to his place. Only half an hour later, she had reached his home and after a short talk with Sophie she made her way from the porch to the back of the yard where Avery was playing.

Over the past weeks, it had been established that Emily spent almost all her free time with Morgan and his little daughter, especially while he had still been injured and afterwards; it was just part of her habits. She couldn't even remember when she had been home for a weekend the last time. Derek always came up with something he wanted to do with Avery and her or even just with her. This probably was the main reason why she couldn't shake of the feel of jealously whenever Jordan interacted with him in any way that went past professional conversation. A few days ago, she had even caught herself thinking of them as her family and if she was honest with herself, she was worried about the strong bond she had with the little girl. After all, if she ever had to move for her job or even worse if Derek really started seeing anyone, there was nothing she could do to see the little girl again.

Besides all the second thoughts, she couldn't resist spending time with the little family and that's why she had agreed earlier to watch her for a while. Sophie was now inside finishing her packing, as she planned to leave for the weekend. Avery was playing in the sand box her father had set up for her. It had started to cool down now that Winter was hitting, but in her winter coat the little girl was just fine.

Emily's eyes wandered back to the house she had basically lived in during the past weeks. Again, the thoughts came into her mind that told her to back off. They were partners, colleagues, maybe even best friends, but considering him and his daughter as her family was going excessively far. She sighed deeply and just turned her view back to Avery when the little girl fell backwards from the sandbox seat on the cold and frozen ground.

The woman rose from her seat to pick the little girl up. It was very quiet for a few seconds. Avery didn't make a sound but simply got up. Emily was about to relax and sit back down, when the events caught up with the little girl. Her hand wandered to her head and then with the realization of the pain came the screaming. With huge tears already traveling down her cheeks she began running for Emily.

"Emi."

"It's okay sweetheart. Let me see your head." She carefully run her hand over the back of the little head, but couldn't find any injuries. It probably would stop hurting in a few minutes and the shock for the little adventurer was bigger than the actual pain.

Emily sat back down with the girl in her arms, and let her cry. When the cry got quieter and the sobs turned into the silent plead for pity she sat her back down and walked to a pile of leaves.

"Did your daddy show you what fun things you can do with these?"

Avery followed with big brown eyes and watched as Emily's hands dived into the pile to gather them together. When the woman than carefully threw them at the little girl, the tears were forgotten and a giggle escaped her mouth, before doing the same thing.

A few minutes later, Avery had completely dived into the pile and giggled as Emily had leaves rain on her. Her ringing phone took her by surprise and she let go of a whole load at a time, as she reached for her cell. She smiled at the excited squeal of the little girl. When she answered it, she couldn't help her smile from widening. It was Derek, who told her that after he had been done with Jordan's case Hotch had insisted on him finishing files he was supposed to hand in days ago. That of course meant that he would be late.

She had barely hung up when Avery, who was still sitting in the middle of the leaves, wanted her attention back.

"Mommy."

Emily, who had already been heading towards her, stopped dead and stared at her from a distance.

"What did you just say?" It was more of a rhetorical question since she didn't expect an answer from a one year old.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." Proud over her new vocabulary achievement Avery threw some more leaves towards the sky, while her dad's friend carefully stepped closer. She knelt down in front of the girl.

"Sweetheart, I'm not your mommy. Your mommy is a star." Derek had told her that he was going to establish the thought of her dead mother as a star in the night sky that would always watch over her.

"Mommy?"

Emily sighed, before picking Avery up. All of the sudden all her fears had turned out to be true. She wasn't the little girl's mother. Derek wasn't even her boyfriend, a situation that might have justified the fact that the little girl saw her as her mother.

Inside she freed Avery from her coat and busied her with a few toys, before walking to the kitchen. Her thoughts were a mess. The little word 'mommy' had caught her off guard. Now she wasn't sure what to think about it. The dominant thought in her mind was trying to convince her that she should leave and keep her distance from Avery. As soon as Morgan came back to his dating self it would only make everything complicated if the little girl called her mom. In fact, he was back to that in some degree. Maybe he would even find the love of his life and finally settle down.

Then there was this small part of her that wanted to give in and be that mom that the little girl asked her to be. She already loved her like her own and if she would start to allow those feelings it wouldn't be a big step to show the love of a mother towards her. The only time she had felt like that towards a child had been back in France with a little blonde boy.

"Emily?"

Sophie had entered the kitchen without her noticing, but now that she was next to her, she had to make a decision.

"Could you tell Morgan that something came up?" In this small moment, she had made her decision and as usual, it meant she would bury her feelings and have her head win against her heart.

"Sure, but weren't you planning dinner together?"

"Yes, just tell him to eat without me. I will see him at work on Monday." With that, she turned and hurried to leave the room. She had her coat back on and bag on her shoulder, when Avery came running into the hallway.

"Emi?"

She sighed in relief as the girl had gone back to calling her by her first name. She couldn't bring herself to just leave, so she knelt down in front of her.

"I have to leave. Daddy is going to be home soon and Sophie is here. Just be good for them okay?"

The toddler clearly tried to process what she had been told. Her eyes grew sad, when she watched Emily heading for the door. The door was almost closed when she let out a cry, realizing what was happening.

"Emi."

The agent drew the door closed, but she still heard the hysteric cry from inside. It was like the little girl could sense that she wasn't just leaving for a few hours, but intended to not come back anytime soon. Her heart broke, but she had to do this now, so the pain was still bearable.

When she had made her way home, she found a message on her answering machine.

"_Emily, I don't know what came up, but maybe we could grab dinner and watch the movies tomorrow?"_

"_Emi?"_

Emily closed her eyes as she heard the hopeful tone of the 15 month old in the background.

"_Sophie said Avery was pretty upset when you left, so I think you owe both of them. Anyway let me know about tomorrow and I hope whatever it is that came up goes alright."_

"_Mommy?"_

She could hear his chuckle.

"_No angel, we will talk to your mommy's star later. Right now I was talking to Emily."_

"_Mommy."_

That's where the message ended. A silent tear traveled down her cheek. She didn't want to lose them, but what was she supposed to do about it. If she didn't step away now he would find out that she was the mommy Avery was talking about and that would make everything so unbelievably complicated.

The next day she had put her phone on silent and ignored every new message on the answering machine as well as her doorbell around noon. She also didn't go over for dinner, sending a short text as her excuse, since she was worried her partner would show up again.

When she got back to work on Monday, she got a questioning look, but a case helped her to avoid any further questions and when they finally got back to D.C. she had escaped the offices before he could approach her and after the short downtime, he seemed to have given up.


	10. Sick Baby

I will be traveling the next few weeks so I don't know if I can post as regularly as you are used to. But I try and if I have the time I will give you a lot of extras, since I'm done and have no writing pressure left.

As always thanks to those reviewing and following the story: , Lena-F, KazyCMfan, paullyn6, Lenika08, Nix1978, RealMe07, 123a456e, Aaliayah13, LOVESxPAGET, PrentissObessed, and Guest. I'm so glad you still like my story and follow it. I promise even if there is a break there will be more and as sad the last part is, it will get better again. This next part still has drama in it.

Thanks to Kendall for keeping up with me and have fun with the 50-page document. :D

Sick baby

"**There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie."** - Aeschylus

It was late that night and Emily had nestled into her bed hours ago. Now that she wasn't spending any time with Avery anymore, she had surprisingly much more time for reading or to waste in front of the TV. The second pastime was still running when she was awoken by the sound of her cell phone. She rolled her eyes when she recognized the show that was on and turned it on silent, wondering how she had been able to sleep with it on.

She then fished her cell from the nightstand. When she saw the caller ID she was almost ready to put the phone back down, but something stopped her. Her eyes moved to her alarm clock. It was two in the morning. It had to have been very important for him to be awake and even more important to call her at this time.

"Prentiss," Emily answered sleepily.

"_Thank goodness."_

"It's two in the morning. This better be good Morgan." While she had called him Derek during most of her free time, she was now completely back to his last name. Something that annoyed him to death, but he would never admit it.

"_I was wondering if you could run to the pharmacy for me and get some medicine that lowers a fever. Something child approved. The nurse said it's just a small cold, but Avery keeps waking up and such a high fever can't be healthy. I would go and get it myself, but that means I have to get her ready and drag her through town and I would have called someone else, but I just didn't know who..."_

"Would you calm down?" She had barely been able to follow his fast speech. It almost seemed like he only had one chance to get everything said that he wanted to say. She now could hear how he took a deep breath.

"_Sorry."_

"So Avery has a fever?"

"_Yes. Apparently normal, they said something about teething, or maybe just a cold."_

"But you are still worried?"

There was a break, as he seemed to calm down; it appeared to her as if it was more talking to her than the actual help he needed.

"_Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you up. You made clear that you are done playing babysitter."_ She could hear the bitterness in his voice but missed the regret and disappointment.

"No. It's okay. I will be there in a few." She swung her legs out of her bed without thinking very much about it. She hung up and pulled a sweater from her closet. After grabbing her keys and wallet, she was out of her apartment.

Her first stop was the 24-hour pharmacy around the corner.

"What can I do for you?"

"I need something to get the fever of a 15-month old down. The nurse said it is probably the teething or a cold, but her dad is still worried."

"I'll get you something." The pharmacist returned shortly after with a big smile on her lips. "Give her small doses of this when you get back and then again whenever she wakes up."

Emily released a breath of relief and got her credit card out to pay. The woman smiled wider as she took in the pajamas and the old sweater. Having four grown children herself, she always had sympathy for the poor parents that didn't quite know yet what to worry about.

"Is it your first one?"

"My first what?" Emily looked up from the little machine she had swiped her card through.

"Your first child, you said your husband was worried. That is usually an indicator for the first born." The woman behind the counter smiled at her. The agent was about to ask how she had gotten the idea that she was talking about her daughter, but then the thought occurred that only a mother would go to get medication in the middle of the night.

"Yes, his first." She said carefully, but the woman didn't seem to even notice, especially since she hadn't corrected her on the husband part of the sentence. The card was accepted and Emily gave her goodbye.

It took her another twenty minutes to make it to his place. She did not realize what she was really doing until she had knocked against his door. Suddenly all the reasons for her staying away from this place for the past two weeks were back in her mind. She took a sharp breath and was seriously considering leaving the medicine at the doorstep and running, when he opened the door. She followed him inside and hurriedly explained the doses of medication. She thought that maybe she could still get away without Avery seeing her, if she only stayed downstairs.

Without saying much, he went back upstairs to his child. She considered leaving again, but she had a feeling he would not let her get away with that. Carefully she sat one foot on the stairs and made her way to the second floor. Emily had just closed the gate behind her when she heard the silent voice of her partner, but she could not understand what he said.

"No, no." Avery's sweet voice rang through the quietness. Emily did not even realize that a smile came to her lips at the sound of the child's voice. Then the little girl came running from her room. She stopped as soon as she had spotted the woman, only to speed up the next second.

"Emi."

She couldn't help herself but be happy about the fact that the little girl was back in her arms. The agent slowly got back up, taking the girl with her. The little arms were wrapped tightly around her neck, while the warm forehead pressed against her shoulder. She could feel that her fever was still high, while the pajamas felt damp from the sweat.

Derek had stepped into the hallway only seconds after his daughter, but went unnoticed during the reunion. In one hand, he was still holding the cap of the medicine bottle that also served as cup. His eyes were on his partner and the soothing effect she still had on his daughter.

Hours ago, he had started off being mad at her for simply locking him and Avery out of her life without any explanation. Then, for a short while, he had simply forgotten about his anger, being too busy to try to calm his little girl and too worried about the strength of the fever. Finally, he had reached the point when he had been as desperate for Emily's soothing effect as his daughter. By the time the phone call was done, he had been calm enough to be mad again, although at the same time he thanked her for the silent help of simply being herself.

Now watching her brought up all of those emotions at the same time: He wanted to yell at her nearly as much as he wanted to hug her. She looked up as she felt his stare and met his glance. For the tiniest moment, he thought he saw as much regret in her eyes as he felt, but then she hurried to look away, knowing too well that he could read her like an open book.

He decided to forget about those thoughts and walked over to the pair.

"Now that Emi saved you, can we take the medicine?"

Avery lifted her head from the shoulder. She was clearly tired from the long night and now that her favorite person was back, there wasn't much reason to fight.

"It doesn't hurt. You just have to open your mouth like this." Emily opened her mouth into a wide O shape and smiled as the little girl almost immediately did the same thing. Avery grimaced at the taste of the medicine but nevertheless swallowed all of it.

"Good girl. Now let's get you back to sleep." She glanced at Derek for his permission.

"Go ahead."

She walked into the nursery and sat down in the awful rocking chair. She slowly turned the girl into a lying position and started rocking the chair with her foot. However, the girl didn't want to do her that favor and began winding in her arms to get out.

"Here." Emily looked up as Derek handed over the stuffed duck and his daughter almost immediately grabbed it out of his hand. "Got pretty attached to that thing."

She nodded slowly before looking down at the baby who was now peacefully snuggling into her arms. It only took a few minutes for the girl to fall asleep after her exhausting fight against the fever. After keeping her in her arms for a little longer to make sure she wouldn't wake up through the moving, but also to enjoy the moment she swore would not be repeated any time soon, Derek came over to lift his daughter from his friends arms.

"Mommy." The whimpering was very quiet, but Emily had heard it and she tensed almost immediately. She watched as her partner proceeded and moved Avery. At the word all the good reasoning was back in her head and she hurried out of the room to get downstairs, hoping that he hadn't heard the little word.

Derek, however, had heard it, but didn't think much of it. As soon as he had placed the blanket over the sleeping baby, he had hurried to follow her. Like he had suspected he found her with her coat already on.

"Don't even think about leaving before you explain to me, what I did that you refuse to talk to me and even worse to Avery."

"Nothing. You did nothing." That wasn't even a lie, but sadly enough not satisfying in his ears. He would press the issue; she could see that in the determination on his face.

"Emily this isn't a game. Avery was a mess the past week. I barely get her to calm down and Sophie has it even harder when I'm gone. All she wants is Emi and that's about the only thing I couldn't offer, because _Emi_ refuses to answer my phone calls."

The female agent wanted nothing more than to just disappear. She hadn't realized how attached the girl already was and the way it sounded, the thing she had tried to prevent with her staying away had still happened. Avery had lost another mother figure.

"I'm sorry." And she truly was, but she didn't know what to do about it.

"I don't care about you being sorry. I just want to know why you are doing this to her." To us, he wanted to add, but that would require him to admit that he missed having Emily being around as much, if not more, than his daughter did.

"I just think it is for the best."

"For the best?" He asked incredulously.

Emily nodded weakly, not trusting her voice.

"You are ripping my daughter's heart into pieces and you think that's for the best?" He couldn't help himself from raising his voice.

The brunette stared toward the wooden floor in front of her, while her fingers were playing with the zipper of her coat. His words had hit her hard. She had never meant to hurt anyone, she wanted to prevent that from happening, but if she came back now the whole heart breaking would have to happen at another point in the near future.

"I have to go."

With that she turned and fled the house. She made it to her car and even a few blocks down, but then she had to pull to the side because the tears were clouding her eyes so much that she couldn't see anymore.


	11. Mother instinct

Hello everyone, looks like you get lucky this week. Since I think, I got all the feedback possible here is the next part. Thanks to Lena-F, RealMe07, Guest, KazyCMfan, leahloahla, Barbra4317, Paullyn6, Lenika08, DMfANATiC69, 123a456e, Zyrah329, LOVESxPAGET, and Guest for your feedback and thanks to those following and favoriting this story.

To some comments. Sorry for leaving you off with a fight, but a little bit of drama every once in a while is needed. I didn't want to make Derek look like the bad person in this. He has so many other things to worry about. Avery was upset and she would probably get over it soon. This next chapter will finally figure things out and as a special guest we have Mama Morgan

As always thanks to Kendall, hope the reading of those other parts and writing goes well.

Criminal Minds is not mine (obviously).

Mother instinct

**"That he'll never let you down. That boy's got a heart the size of Kentucky, and he loves you. That's important. Take it from someone who knows. My mom used to tell me that whatever you do, marry someone who loves you more than you love him. And I listened to her. Why do you think Henry and I get along so well? I'm not saying that I don't love him, because I do. But if I ever left Henry or something, God forbid, ever happened to me, I don't think he'll be able to go on. And that guy would risk his life for mine in a heartbeat."**  
— Nicholas Sparks (The Guardian)

Derek had gotten close to no sleep the night before. First Avery's fever had kept him awake and then the fight with his partner. It wasn't like them to act this way and he knew that he had to figure it out before they got back to work. More importantly he didn't want to lose his best friend. However, he just didn't understand what had gotten into her. For two months, they had been growing closer to each other and almost acted like a little family, but now everything was just a big mess.

He got up and checked on his daughter, who was still sleeping, before heading downstairs to make himself a strong cup of coffee. He had finished his first cup and was about to refill another when the phone went off. He sighed, praying it wasn't a new case, and went to answer it. To his relief it was his mother. Well at least at first he thought it was a relief. After a little bit of small talk and half-hearted planning of their first Christmas together with Avery, Fran had caught onto the fact that something else was on his mind.

"_What's wrong Derek?"_

"I just didn't sleep a lot because of Avery's fever."

"_So my baby girl is feeling better?"_

"Yea, she is asleep and the medicine Emily brought really seems to help."

"_Okay so what is the problem? Take a nap and everything is alright."_

"I doubt a nap can fix that." He could have slapped himself for giving himself away so easily. Now he could almost see his mother raise her eyebrows at him and of course, she didn't say a word with it, just waited for him to start talking, dang her.

"She is acting weird lately. She hasn't been over in two weeks, excluding last night, and avoids me whenever she can."

"_Well something must have happened or she wouldn't do that." _Fran hadn't even asked who he was talking about, but naturally put Emily into the picture.

"Everything was just fine. It was fun to have her around and see something else than the baby occasionally and Avery loves her. She even called her mommy last night."

Instead of an answer, silence came from the other side of the line. Fran hadn't missed the importance of that little word her son had so carelessly put into his sentence.

"Mama?" He finally asked, when nothing came back. Derek was even more surprised when he heard the deep breath she took in before she spoke to him in a soft voice.

"_Did you ever come to think that that might be the problem?"_

"What?" He was completely lost.

"_You don't think the fact that your daughter calls your partner from work 'mommy' might catch Emily off guard?"_

It suddenly dawned on him.

"_You know attaching goes both ways. The way I saw Emily interacting with Avery shows how much she loves your little girl. That word probably brought back to mind that this is exactly what she isn't. Emily isn't your daughter's mother and now that she is aware of that, she might be afraid of hurting Avery's and also probably her own feelings." _She paused for a moment, before adding even more softly: _"She just didn't calculate in that it is already too late to get out of it without hurting anyone's feelings."_

Derek let himself fall into his couch. His coffee on the table in front of him was long forgotten. His thoughts were running a thousand miles an hour as he realized that, if his mother was right, his words last night had been the worst thing he could have ever said to her. He had been trying to protect his daughter, but now that he thought back, he was sure that she hadn't been able to hide the hurt completely before leaving the house. He had done exactly what he had accused her of doing to Avery: He had shredded her heart into pieces with one unbelievable dumb sentence.

"_Derek, are you still there?"_

"Yea…"

"_I think you have some fixing to do."_

"How am I supposed to fix this? I mean technically she is right. Avery shouldn't be attaching to my coworker."

"_Honey, if you would just open your eyes, that problem could be fixed very easily as well."_

"Mama, this is the second time you tell me to open my eyes, but I still don't know to what."

He heard a soft chuckle, but he wasn't in the mood to be done with that.

"_Did you ever consider dating Emily?"_

"What? No, of course not." That was a lie. He realized it as soon as the words had come over his lips. He had considered it so many times in the past two years that he wasn't sure if he could still count them on one hand. That first time he had seen her in the office, not knowing yet that she would be his new partner, but simply admiring her elegance. Then there was another time on the plane when she had obviously flirted with him over that book, of course, he had told Reid that it would never happen and he might have believed it himself, but he had still thought about it. Finally, in the past months, he hadn't really thought of it as dating, but rather how it would be to be a real family.

"_Well I think you did." _Her words brought him back into reality and he wasn't going to argue with her on it.

"Even if I did she isn't interested in Derek Morgan." He wasn't sure if he should feel offended as she laughed loudly over his words.

"_Honey, no woman would play family with you for weeks if she doesn't have feelings for you. She might be as stubborn as you are and not admit it yet, but believe me there are feelings involved." _

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

Fran laughed again: _"Derek, I doubt you really need me to tell you that."_

He shook his head at her, but deep down he knew that she was right.

"Well I've got to check on your favorite grandchild and bribe her with some more medicine."

"_Okay, I love you baby."_

"I love you, too."

When he had made his way upstairs, he found the little girl sitting in her crib, playing with the stuffed duck.

"Hey baby girl." He leaned down to the bed, softly brushed over the little forehead, and then her hair back. "You think you are well enough to not drive Sophie insane today?"

His only answer was some curious eyes.

"Daddy has to fix something and it's in your own interest to be good today and give me that time with Emily."

"Mommy."

"Well yea we are going to work on that." He responded with a soft chuckle, while fishing for his phone in his pocket to give his nanny a call. An hour later, his daughter was safe with Sophie and he was on his way to Emily's place. As of that point, he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to tell her. Now that he thought he understood what her problem was, he didn't know how to fix it. Obviously, there were pretty easy ways of fixing it. One of them would be to go apologize and tell her it was okay if they went back to just being partners and cutting her completely off from Avery. The problem with this was that Avery would hate that solution and if he was honest, so did he. Another way would be what his mother would like to see: him asking her out and eventually becoming a couple, which would make it natural for his daughter to call her mom. This would make his little one and mother more than happy and he surely wouldn't complain if she agreed to date him, but the risk was just so high. What would he do if she thought he was crazy? Maybe she stepped away because she did not see them dating at all and wanted to save them from making a mistake.

He stopped his car in front of her apartment complex, but didn't make any further moves. He stared at the door that would eventually lead him to her apartment. Both solutions he had come up with were not very satisfying and he therefore had no idea what he should tell her. For him the situation they had been in for the past few weeks was just perfect. The bureau didn't appreciate relationships between team members, so having her as his best friend almost always around seemed to be a pretty good plan B. Also by suggesting to date he would not only break the bureau rules, but his own: No dating of direct coworkers and then number two, which kind of goes with the first one, no dating of girls with guns.

He slammed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. While talking to his mom earlier everything had seemed so easy, but he couldn't see any easy way out now. Everything was so complicated now. He could of course quit his job after all, which would at least solve the problem of breaking any major rules, but if she didn't agree to date him he would lose her completely and he was too selfish to do that. Maybe he could just offer her to continue playing mom for his daughter, promising nothing would change if he ever dated someone else, but seriously not even in his own ears did that sound convincing. Relationships always changed the circumstances. When it came to that, he even understood why she had stepped back. She had no right to his daughter and by pretending to be her mother she would only stop them both from getting into relationships, because that would be awkward. The funny thing was he hadn't seen that, before his mother pointed it out, because he had never even thought about dating someone else during the past month. The situation with Emily and Avery had been perfectly fine to him.

A soft knock against his passenger window startled him. He didn't even have a chance to react, before the door opened and she slid into the seat. After closing the door, she handed him a cup of coffee and then leaned back with her own in her hand. Derek needed a moment to stare at her, which caused her to laugh.

"You have been out here for at least half an hour; don't know how long it has been before I noticed your car." Emily informed him with a smirk on her lips, before taking a sip from her cup.

His eyes wandered from her too the built in clock on his dashboard and he realized how long he had already been here.

"So how is Avery?" Her gaze went straight in front of her. She was still upset about their fight last night, but the fact that he hadn't found the guts to get up to her apartment after thirty minutes told her that so was he.

"Doing better. She slept quite a bit after she got that medicine you brought over. I think Sophie has got it covered for now."

Emily gave a small nod, unsure of where to go with the conversation now that this part of the small talk was covered.

"I'm sorry about what I said last night. Avery was so upset the last two weeks and then last night when she was sick all she kept asking me for was Emi."

"That's what I tried to prevent by staying away. She was getting too attached." Emily quietly offered, leaving out the part that she was trying to protect herself as well.

"I know."

"You do?" For the slightest moment of surprise, her eyes left the tree down the road and wandered to him. She then lowered them to the cup, and she let her fingers play with the pattern on it.

"Well I needed some help figuring it out…" Derek confessed before carrying on: "…but I did hear that she called you mommy last night."

He saw as she swallowed and seem to stiffen. "I just didn't think much of it. I love having you around and I know Avery does too and so I thought it was just cute."

"Derek…" she started, but then hesitated for a moment to find the right words, which gave him the chance of interrupting her. He had turned in his seat so that he was facing her.

"You know I have been thinking. A lot actually, that's why I didn't come up yet. The bottom line of this whole misery is that I don't want to lose you and this has nothing to do with Avery. She is a great excuse to have you around, but really, I started to realize that I enjoyed our movie nights or dinners as much as the time with Avery."

The agent took in a deep breath, suddenly deciding to put everything on this one try and either lose or win, but at least knowing where they stood. His hand moved up to capture her face and turn it so she had to face him. Seeing her initial reaction was important in that kind of a situation.

"I was thinking that maybe we could try the more traditional way, instead of having an instant family. That is if you would be willing to go on some official dates with me?"

Emily's eyes widened and she swallowed hard. She couldn't help herself stare at him, for what must seem like forever to him. She just wasn't sure, if she really had just heard Derek Morgan asking her out. The idea had come to her mind while trying to find a solution on her own, but she had simply assumed that he wasn't interested and even if he was they were partners and that wasn't a good mix. Also, there was still Jordan in the picture. Given she didn't seem as interested in him anymore, but it still bothered Emily whenever she saw the two of them together.

He removed his hand from her cheek, suddenly regretting his decision of asking her out. How was he supposed to fix this now that the words had left his mouth?

"I mean, that was probably a stupid idea. Just forget that I said that and we just go back to being partners, Avery will get over it eventually." What he really meant was that he would get over it. "I mean it was just a thought, I don't know what I was thinking…"

"Derek, would you stop talking your head off?" She finally interrupted his rambling, a soft smile playing on her lips. "I would like to try this whole dating idea that is if you said it was a stupid idea to safe our work relationship and didn't actually mean it."

Now it was his turn to be surprised. With the long time she had just stared at him, he had assumed that he had made everything even more complicated. A smile wandered on his lips, which slowly turned into a grin.

"I'm taking you out then."

"Yes."

"The next Friday we have off."

"Sure." She smirked at the thought that this might take a while to happen with their luck. "You want to come up to finish that coffee?"

Derek's eyes went on the still full cup in his hand. Finally, he nodded and they made their way upstairs. While at first their small talk seemed to be rather awkward, they soon found back to their own self's over a TV-show they were both commenting on.


	12. The First Date

Hi everyone. Sorry for taking a little while I just got busy with life and my vacation. As always thanks to everyone, who has been reading, reviewing and followed. Thanks to: Paullyn6, 123a456e, Lena-F, LOVESxPAGET, Xyrah329, Aaliayah13, Guest, KazyCMfan, RealMe07, Lenika08, Guest, RosalieTheBeautyQueen, leahloahla, and Phoenix1995. I'm glad you liked it and I have to agree, Momma Morgan knowns what she is doing.

Thanks to lovely lovelover7891 for beta reading as always. I think I worked quite a few things in that you had suggested so there should be a couple of changes. Anyway have fun with it and I hope writing goes well for you.

Here is the next part and probably the one everyone has been waiting for: The date. I just have to say I didn't like that movie at all, so this chapter might be the one I gave the biggest sacrifice for by watching that movie. Anyway I think it has a bunch of cute moments, no Avery (sorry to her fans), but I thought Demily need some time and attention now and Avery will be back with all her cuteness.

**The first date**

"Ten Things You Shouldn't Say on a Date.  
1. You're wearing that?  
2. Something smells funny.  
3. Where's the Tylenol?  
4. And to think, I first wanted to date your brother.  
5. I have a confession to make…  
6. My dad has a suit just like that.  
7. That man is hot. Look at him.  
8. My ex, may he rot in hell forever…  
9. You're going to order that? Seriously?  
10. You're how old?"  
― Gena Showalter, _Animal Instincts_

Almost two weeks had gone by since their conversation and of course, he hadn't had a chance at all to take her out. They had been drowned in paperwork and were nearly begging Jordan to give them a case all week long. When Thursday came, Derek actually got his hopes up that they wouldn't leave town this week and that he could take her out the next day. He had made his way into the kitchen after her, seeking the little bit of privacy this one room offered them.

"Hi." She greeted him with an almost shy smile as she looked up from her coffee mug.

"Hey." He licked his lips, not sure how to phrase his question. Technically, he had already asked her out, so that seemed to be the wrong question. "I was thinking, since we seem to be in town this weekend, maybe we could go on the date?"

Emily lifted her mug, before turning to look at him. To see Derek Morgan in need of the right words to fix a date was almost amusing to her. It would have been very amusing in fact, if she hadn't been the one who he was trying to make arrangements with.

"Well we did say the first Friday we are home, right?"

"Yes we did." He jumped at the bite now encouraged since she had indicated that she was still up for the idea. "So I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Yeah sure. Any clues on what to…" She stopped her question about clothing abruptly as Jordan entered the room.

"We've got a case. Briefing in five, we will probably fly out tonight."

Derek stared after her as she was on her way back upstairs to head into Hotch's office. This was just so unbelievable and typical for their job. As he turned to face his partner, he saw a look that mirrored his own: the frustration of a last minute case, before the weekend, but also a little disappointment.

"Well I guess we'll try next week." Emily's tone was dripping with sarcasm as she walked past him. "At least you get paid double for the extra hours, so you can take me somewhere nice."

The disappointment was forgotten as soon as the media liaison started briefing them on the case. If it was as bad as it looked on the few pictures and reports, they would spend the next days and probably nights in a Sheriff's office in Texas.

Indeed, they were busy with their case and nobody noticed any difference between the partners. It was Friday afternoon the next week when they finally sat in the plane flying back to D.C. Everyone was exhausted. Jordan was slumbering on the couch, Hotch and Rossi both had napped off in one of the chairs, while Reid, Morgan and Emily shared the little booth. Emily had removed her shoes and rested her legs next to her on the wide seat, while the men shared their bench.

Reid had leaned back and closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep in the uncomfortable position. Morgan had turned ever so slightly, playing on his phone, which he held in an angle that Reid couldn't see it. Emily was about to doze off when she felt the slight vibration of her own phone in her pocket. With a sigh, she fished it out and looked at the message. Her mood rose when she had identified the sender, but only until she read his message.

_You free tonight?_

She raised her eyebrow at him, wondering if he was seriously considering taking her out although both of them were ready to fall asleep while standing.

_Free for my bed and 24 hours of sleep._

When she looked up again she watched the disappointment creep into his expression while he read her response.

_I see._

_Next week? _She hurriedly typed into her phone, not wanting him to feel like she had changed her mind on the date idea.

_With our luck we will be on a case next Friday._

_True._

They glanced up at the same moment, holding each other's gaze to discuss the issue silently between their eyes. Finally, she picked her phone back up.

_I need an hour to make me feel like a human again._

When he read her last response a satisfied grin came to his lips and he leaned back closing his eyes to use the rest of the flight to sleep.

"You two do realize that I can hear your typing and the vibration of the phone? You could just talk." Emily jumped ever so slightly as Reid addressed them with his eyes still closed.

"Didn't want to wake you up, kid."

"If you say so."

Emily glanced at her partner for a short moment, both wondering if the young genius had actually sensed that something was going on between them. Since neither of them spoke up again, neither did Reid and they all drift into their naps.

When they landed the team all made their way to the cars without exchanging many more words. Everyone was tired and had their very own ideas of how they were spending the free weekend, everyone besides Derek and Emily. The later had made her way back to her apartment, where she realized that she had forgotten to ask him what to wear. Her mind still clouded with tiredness, she finally decided to postpone that problem and take a shower first.

After twenty minutes under the warm water and a two-second shock therapy of cold water she felt awake again, but sadly enough the problem of clothing was still not resolved. Her eyes wandered through the masses of material that were stored in her closet, but as usual with any date, nothing seemed to be appropriate for her needs.

Finally, she grabbed one of her better pair of tight fitting, dark blue jeans and a loose cream-colored blouse. Not exactly fancy so she could only hope that he wouldn't try to take her to some overpriced restaurant to impress her. Finishing her outfit with a pair of boots, she made her way downstairs to search that closet for a coat. She was just about to narrow her search down to two coats that would both fit the outfit when the doorbell rang. Her eyes hurried to the clock, realizing time had passed rather quickly, but he was still early.

She opened the door glaring at him for the slightest moment: "You are early."

"Well I found out that we need to be there earlier than what I had planned on, so I thought I would check if you were ready." He explained sheepishly.

"That depends on where we are going and if my outfit fits that."

"It's perfect." The answer was so fast out of his mouth that she raised a doubting eyebrow at him.

"Maybe I should change into something fancier." She turned throwing a quick glance at her coats to make a decision on that before wanting to go upstairs and change her outfit. Only that she didn't get any further, because he caught her arm.

"Emily, really it's perfect, you would probably stand out with anything fancier, and I think you look beautiful." His smile with the last part of the sentence was almost shy.

"Yeah?" She was still doubting him, although she couldn't stop the blush from coming on her cheeks. At his nod she grabbed her coat and purse and closed the door behind herself. "You better be right."

He smirked before leading her, with his hand slightly touching her back, towards the elevators of her apartment building. Ever the gentlemen he helped her put on her coat before they escaped the house into the cold winter night. He then opened the passenger door of his car for her, before jogging around the car to get going. They needed quite some time as the car fought through the thick snowflakes and after a while Emily wasn't even sure anymore of where she was. With the slow speed and the small amount of things she could see through her window, she could not put her finger on where they should or could be. Finally, he stopped and helped her out of the car. Her eyes took in the rural area and a small movie theatre.

"Oh buddy this movie better be good or I will fall asleep." She glanced at him, but he just smirked and led her inside. To her surprise they didn't get in line, but he guided her towards the back where he had her enter a very small showing room that was completely empty.

"Choose whichever seat you want, I will be back in a few." With that he left her to the empty room. She sighed before giving the few rows a judging look. Generally, the back was always the best, because nobody could sit behind you, so that's where she headed. She was still freezing from the short moment outside and decided to keep her coat on for now.

Derek returned a few minutes later loaded with a big bag of popcorn and two cups in his hand. He grinned when he found her in the back row.

"How did I know that my paranoid date would sit all the way to the back?"

She put on a mockingly offended face: "You told me to choose."

"True." He handed her one of the cups. She almost let it fall when she realized it was filled with a hot liquid rather than the cold soda she had expected. "Careful, Princess."

"So what are we watching?" She asked as he had settled next to her.

"You will see and no it will not be boring or at least if it is we can talk straight through it." The lights started dimming as the first commercial appeared on the big screen in front of her.

"Wait we are the only ones to watch it?"

He nodded with a satisfied grin on his lips. The lights were completely off now and after another commercial, the movie started. While the Universal Pictures trailer began flying across the screen, she already got a sense of the fact that it must be an older movie, as the music wasn't quite the same as nowadays. This first suspicion seemed to be proved as she saw an old car and the untimely outfit of a woman asking for her daddy. A smile came to Emily's lips as the she took in the simple and old-fashioned camera guiding.

Suddenly the movie seemed familiar as she followed the typing on the screen. She shivered as the scene changed to a cold mess of snow, which she had experienced outside a few minutes earlier. In a reflex, she pulled her coat, which she had opened only a few minutes earlier, back together and wound her hands around the warm cup in her hand.

"Slaughterhouse Five." She read only seconds later off the screen, turning in excitement towards her date. "How did you find a place that still plays this?"

"I didn't." He shrugged: "An old friend owns this place and I technically paid him to play it."

She gave him a small smile, before she turned back to the screen where Billy had just pulled into the snow hole. Emily took a small sip from her hot chocolate, before setting the cup down. The snow still made her shiver. Her eyes went back to Derek for a tiny second and then to the armrest between them. After another second of thinking it over, she pulled the armrest up and leaned against him, to take his body warmth in as well.

He was about to put his arm around her, when his hand touched a wet spot.

"No offense, but you need to take that coat off."

"What?" She exclaimed, looking at him with playfully wide eyes. "I'm cold."

"And I'm more than willing to help change that, but not if I get soaked by the snow on your coat."

She sighed loudly, before she moved away and removed her coat. After she had placed it on the seats in front of her, she snuggled back into his arms that were now wrapped around her.

Their eyes were now glued back on the screen; both of them more than happy with the situation they were in. Derek hadn't expected her to move that fast, but he was not going to complain about it either. After all, she was exactly where he was hoping she would be within the next hour and forty minutes and thinking back to the movies they had watched at home, they had regularly ended up in the same position. They sat quietly for some time before she let out a murmured comment that he couldn't understand.

"What was that?"

"His German is horrible."

"I didn't know you could speak German, too."

"I don't." She could hear his chuckle and slightly turned her head to give him a punishing look. "But I have heard it before and it isn't supposed to sound like that."

"Right." He couldn't help himself but laugh over her complaint and although she tried to keep her serious face on she finally started laughing to.

"Just thought I would point it out." She said, and with that, she rested her head back against his shoulder.

They were quiet for some more time, besides the occasional thrown in comments, but finally Derek couldn't stop himself. Billy's wife was on the screen; overjoyed by the present he had given her for this special day and promised big changes in their lives.

"That's true love."

"What do you mean?"

"She promised him that she would lose weight."

Her hand slapped violently against his chest, while she didn't even go through the trouble of looking at him.

"What was that for?"

"Just put it on your 'never to say on a date' list."

"I didn't say _you_ should lose weight. There is a difference."

Unknown to him she rolled her eyes, but didn't resume the argument.

"Sad part is she will never lose any weight at all." That earned him another slap.

"Are you always beating up your dates?"

"Only if they are inappropriate."

"How is that inappropriate?"

She finally lifted her head to look at him. He looked slightly confused but still had his grin in place, which showed her that he was only playing with her.

"Let a woman tell you that it is and believe her."

"Right…" his response was dripping with sarcasm and he was going to add more to it, when their eyes suddenly connected. It was rare that she gave him full access to her thoughts and feelings like she did with this stare. Usually when they locked eyes they would silently figure out who made what move in the field. Now they opened their hearts.

His hand carefully moved to her cheek, brushing a strand of her dark curls behind her ear, before moving on to simply caressing her soft skin.

"Would it be inappropriate, if I kissed you now?" He never asked for permission when it came to kissing his dates, but Emily was special and needed to be treated that way. Thankfully the slight shake of her head agreed to his request and so he leaned down to place a soft kiss on her lips. It was cautious and he barely touched her lips, which surprised her but also made her smile. He was trying so hard to do everything right, not being aware that he was right just the way he was.

She turned in her seat so she could get closer to him and pressed her lips against his once again; tasting the sweetness the hot chocolate had left on his lips. When they ended the kiss, she didn't move but concentrated on his breath on her skin with her eyes still closed.

_"Billy, mommas here. You can come out now."_ The scene on the screen suddenly got her attention, interrupting their moment, as the voice of Billy's mother rang through the room. She opened her eyes and turned to watch Billy pull his blanket over his head in a hurry.

"Yeah, only right thing to do there. Mothers."

He smiled at her as she sympathized with poor Billy on the screen.

"Mothers aren't that bad." He then countered quietly.

"I know yours isn't, but ours…" her hand moved between her and the screen: "… are the worst."

He nodded slowly, not believing that Elizabeth Prentiss was actually that bad of a mother. He had witnessed the look of pride in her eyes whenever she looked at her daughter while she had worked on the case for her. Emily just seemed to be immune to it or didn't even notice. A few scenes later, the young dog Spot was running over the screen with Billy close behind him.

"Were you like that with Clooney?" The woman looked back up at him.

"No, he was already an old man when I got him. Sleeping and eating was all he really wanted."

She nodded against his shoulder, her eyes going back to the screen. She had been with the team for about a year when he had mentioned that he had to put him down because of his old age. Still trying to integrate herself in the team, she had not yet been at his home and had never met Clooney.

The movie went on and the soldiers were transported to Dresden and marched through the town on their way to Slaughterhouse 5. The buildings made a beautiful facade for the following storylines in the German town.

"That would be one place I really like to visit."

She glanced at him, surprised over that comment: "Well whenever Avery is old enough to travel better feel free to take me there on vacation."

"You haven't been there yet?"

"Just because I travelled a lot as a child doesn't mean I went everywhere, plus I don't remember a lot of places my mom took me too when I was little."

"Alright, Germany it is then. Now we only need to get Hotch to give us more than two days in a row off."

They spent the rest of the movie quietly enjoying each other's presence and slowly feeling the tiredness of the case creep back over them. After introducing her to his buddy that owned the theater he took her home. There he insisted on bringing her up to her apartment door.

After spending the whole evening in each other's arms suddenly their insecurity on the dating each other concept returned.

"Well I better get going so Sophie can start on her days off as well." She nodded as he let go of her hand that he had been holding.

"I see you Monday then?"

"Yes." They stared at each other awkwardly. Finally, he turned to make his way down the hallway to save them both from the embarrassing quietness.

"Derek?"

She had barely spoken his name when he had already turned around.

"What is our status?" Emily asked as his attention was back on her.

"Dating?"

"Right." She took a deep breath. "And how official is that?"

"As official as you want it to be." When she stared at him quietly, he took a few steps back towards her, as he tried to read her. There was the little triumphant part of her that wanted to rub into everyone's face that she had gotten Derek Morgan, but the bigger part of her was still too scared to go there.

"So you won't be upset if we don't spread the word?" Her question was soft, but he had heard her. With a small smile, he made the last steps towards her.

"I actually think that might be a good idea. We need to figure this out before everyone else starts to talk about it." He could see the relief washing over her as her face brightened up.

"And we definitely need to figure things out before we make it official with Hotch and even worse Strauss." Derek added. That would be their biggest problem, to keep their growing relationship out of their work and partnership. Emily gave a small smile in agreement.

"Goodnight then." Derek finally said, as they grew silent again. He was about to turn around, when her hand caught his arm. He gave her a questioning look as a wicked smile played on her lips.

"You know you should always kiss your date goodnight."


	13. Christmas

Hi people, Happy New Year everyone.

Thanks for all the reviews, new followers and favorites. I'm honored that you are reading my story and it is my pleasure to share it with you. Thanks to Anlemi, Paullyn6, Nix1978, LOVESxPAGET, crayolakid0413, CrimeFan23, Pheonix1995, Lena-F, leahloahla, Guest, 123a456e, and RealMe07. You all are the best and I'm glad you enjoyed reading about their first date. This next chapter is a mix of Christmas, their second date and reality.

Thanks also to Kendall, as always I'm glad to get your comments and corrections. My writing wouldn't be what it is without you.

**Christmas**

"_What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace."_  
― Agnes M. Pahro

The next few weeks had passed very fast. The team had been busy. They were barely finishing up their last cases when they had to leave for another one and the rare moments in the office were filled with consultations and paperwork. Even Hotch seemed to be frustrated with that fact as he missed his last weekend with Jack before Christmas. Everyone was exhausted when finally they sat in the plane on their way home only two days before Christmas Eve. Rossi had not revealed his plans for the holidays, while Jordan was talking about some quiet days with her boyfriend. Hotch was still seeing if he could make arrangements with Haley to see his son longer than originally planned and Derek was wrapped up in the planning of his first flight with a toddler to Chicago, while Reid would fly out to Las Vegas. Only Emily didn't have any plans, which of course she wasn't about to let anyone know. She knew that Derek's tickets had been long booked before their first date, so she wouldn't make him stay behind but at the same time, she didn't want to intrude on their family celebration in Chicago. So she had kept him thinking that she was going to join her mother for dinner. A lie, as her mother was in Europe for the holidays. Therefore, a long bath, good book, and loneliness would be all that was waiting for her.

When they got out of the airplane, everyone hurried to say their goodbyes, as none of them wanted to take the risk of still being in the office when a new last minute case arrived. Emily silently made the way to her car.

"Hi Em."

She kept staring at the car for another second, before turning to his voice as he jogged over from his car. In some way, she would have preferred not saying bye to him, as she was afraid he would figure out she was lying in the last moment. He knew her too well to not eventually notice how upset she was.

"What's up?" She asked innocently as she could still see Jordan and Rossi by their cars.

"I guess I just wanted to say goodbye." His flight was leaving in a few hours and he still had a lot of packing to do, so there wouldn't be another opportunity to do so.

"Goodbye then. Have a great time with your family." She forced a smile on her lips. After resolving their issues and her concerns, she still hadn't been able to see Avery much more. Most of the time they were gone and if they weren't she was too tired to think about entertaining the toddler.

"Can I at least give you a hug? You know between colleagues." He gave her a wink, but she could see in his eyes that he would have preferred to give her a proper goodbye; one that people gave each other when they were dating. There hadn't been much time in the last weeks to show how much they cared for each other.

She gave a small nod and was immediately pulled into his strong arms. Now that the invisible working barrier had been broken she clung to him. The truth was she didn't want him to leave, but again she wasn't planning on telling him. When she felt that he wanted to let go of her, she moved closer and tightened the hug.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, finally getting the proof for what he had sensed in her the last few days. Of course, he couldn't see how she closed her eyes for a moment to blink away her tears. When she moved away from him, she swallowed and then put her smile back on.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Emily." He didn't believe her – of course not. He knew her too well and she had actually wondered why he hadn't figured it out earlier.

"You have a flight to catch." She wasn't going to ruin the few days with his family he had every year by putting the guilt of leaving her alone on him.

"Right. I'll see you in two weeks."

Emily nodded and as he didn't make any move, she turned to finally get into her car. Her way home seemed miserable and when she finally was in pajamas, she decided to not leave her bed until all the holidays were over. Besides a few trips to the bathroom and the kitchen for food, she actually kept true to that until her cell phone went off on Christmas morning. She considered ignoring it for the fear that work was calling, but finally, she decided to at least check the caller ID and a smile came to her lips.

"Hi there."

"Hi beautiful. How are you?"

"I'm fantastic." And for that short moment it wasn't a lie. Just hearing his voice had cheered her up.

"Yeah?"

"Yes, how is Chicago?"

"Cold and Avery is turning into a spoiled brat." He smiled at her laugh. "So how was dinner with your mom?"

She swallowed hard at his question: "It was great."

"What did you eat?"

"What?" Emily hadn't seen that question coming.

"You heard me."

"Turkey?" She couldn't prevent from making it sound like a question rather than a statement.

"You should check your email."

Her eyes widened at his sudden change of topic. She had expected him to press the question now that he had something to work with. Her eyes wandered to the door of her bedroom, considering if she really wanted to get up.

"Emily…" He reminded her on the task at hand.

"Yes, I'm getting there."

She swung her feet out of her bed and tiptoed over the cold floor out of the bedroom towards her study. While doing so she was trying to find out possibilities of what her email account might contain. They didn't exchange many words while she was starting her laptop up. When he finally heard the familiar sound of a windows computer that was almost done loading, he hurried to speak up.

"I have to go. Breakfast. I'll talk to you later."

Emily was stunned when she didn't even have a chance to say bye herself. She sat the phone down and stared at her still loading laptop. The day had started so well, but this hasty hang up had just ruined the good mood she had been in for about ten minutes. Although she considered closing the laptop back up, she didn't do it and opened up her emails. After taking another eternity for the emails to download from the server, she found one from Derek.

_Just so you know, you are a horrible liar. Attached is your boarding pass, flight goes out at four and don't even think about not coming. You are more than welcome here._

She reread the email one more time, a smile slowly spreading across her lips. Maybe Christmas wasn't that bad after all. She opened up the attachment and indeed, found a boarding pass. Where he had gotten all her necessary information, she didn't want to know. Her eyes then darted to the time on the corner of the screen. If she wanted to pack, shower, and still make it in time to the airport she would have to start moving.

Hours later Emily stumbled out of the plane. She was exhausted from the sudden packing and travelling and only wanted to get back to sleep. She got her small suitcase off the band and walked through the exit. It didn't take her long to spot him in the crowd. Derek was wearing a wide toothy grin, and walked a few steps closer so she would reach him faster.

"Hi."

"Hey." He took her in for another moment, before pulling her into a hug. As she finally drew away from him, he stopped her and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this."

"Approximately two weeks, I'm sure Reid could give you the more exact amount of days, hours, minutes seconds, if not milliseconds of when we had our last day off."

Derek smiled at her, before grabbing her suitcase and leading her, one arm wrapped around her waist out of the airport.

"By the way I thought it was really rude to just hang up on me like that." He could hear in her tone that she was just mocking him.

"You would have argued with me, if I had stayed on the phone, so I thought I just stop you from wasting your time on that."

Emily shook her head at him. They stepped into the train that would take them back to the parking lot. She leaned her head against his shoulder for the short ride. She was so glad to be back in his arms. Although never admitting it, she had missed him and Avery more than anything. When the train made its final stop, she only reluctantly began moving again as the doors opened to the cold. He led her to the parking spot where his rental car was.

"I'm going to kidnap you for today."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She saw his devilish smirk that would also fit a little boy who was about to do something stupid. He then opened the door for her to get into the car, but she still stared at him questioningly. Instead of answering her, he pulled her back into his arms. After stealing a long kiss, she snuggled into his arms, never wanting to leave again. He wouldn't dare to say it out loud in front of any of the women in his life, but he considered Emily to be his Christmas present for himself. He felt like the last time they had really spent time together was forever ago. Yes, they had worked together on most of the cases, as Hotch had partnered them up, but it wasn't any quality time when he was actually able to enjoy that she was his girlfriend now.

"I missed you." Emily quietly admitted as he was about to let go of her, causing him to smile.

"Took you a long time to admit that."

"I didn't want to ruin your trip."

"You would never ruin anything for me."

She pushed away from him, glaring at him. "Yes, if I had told you that I didn't want you to leave you would have felt bad for doing so and…"

"Or I would have gotten you a plane ticket two days ago and made sure you didn't spend Christmas alone."

She smiled at him as she leaned in for another kiss. "But you couldn't have given me the best Christmas surprise present ever, because technically it wouldn't have been a Christmas surprise present."

"Oh woman." He chuckled and let go of her, so she could finally move into the car. They didn't drive as far as she had thought they would. It had been two years since she had been in his home, interviewing his family about the dead boy. She wasn't even exactly sure how far that was from the airport, but the trip felt to short, when he pulled into the parking lot of a small hotel. He got her suitcase, quietly asking himself what she had packed in that heavy thing and then grabbed her hand to drag her into the hotel behind him. They didn't stop in the lobby, which indicated to her that he already had his keycard.

"We are not going to your mothers?" She asked as he closed the door behind them.

"We will tomorrow, but I don't feel like driving through this mess." He referred to the thick snowstorm that had been ongoing for the past hours. "I was actually afraid they would cancel your flight."

"They were talking about it." She took the suitcase from him, placing it by his little bag on the floor.

"Plus I didn't spend any alone time with you since that date almost a month ago." She saw the childish grin. "Actually I barely spent any time with you, because we didn't have any days off in a long time."

"I see." She removed her warm coat, now that the heat, of the room, slowly crept through the thick clothes. "So is this considered out second date then?"

"Well it isn't as fancy as the movie just for you."

"I think I've got everything I need for a second date." Now she was the one to wear the flirtatious smile. She sank on the edge of the bed watching him intently. He took of his coat as well, and stepped closer.

"And what would that be Agent Prentiss."

"Well first of all a date." She looked around in the room, before settling her eyes on him. "I think I found one. Now we need to work on part two."

"So?" He wasn't surprised when she grabbed his hand, before moving backwards and falling with her back on the mattress pulling him right on top of her. Derek caught himself with his free hand, but then closed the small distance and kissed her longer and more passionately than the kisses they had exchanged before.

"What exactly are we working on?" He asked when they broke apart, both gasping for air.

"Getting you out of your clothes," she said suggestively and he caught her lips again with his; both wearing identical grins.


	14. Back to reality

Thank you everyone for reading the latest chapter. I think some of you are going to be disappointed but there won't be much more of the Morgan's right now, but believe me they will be back. I just didn't feel like writing those parts. Anyway thank you to Lenika08, Lena-F, paullyn6, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, Phoenix1995, RealMe07, CrimeFan23, TheMysteriousGeek2345, leahloahla, LOVESxPAGET, 123a456e, S, Nix1978 and Guest.

As always lots of thanks to Kendall. I hope life gets less busy for both of us soon. Enjoy a little reading.

**Back to reality**

"_You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."_  
― Dr. Seuss

Emily had spent the two weeks with Derek and his family and it wasn't hard for her to say that they were the best two weeks of her life. There had been an awkward moment when Avery had called her mommy again, but Fran looked like she actually liked the thought and the Morgan sisters got over it eventually. Overall Emily had had a great time. She even felt like she was part of the family already. Now they were back to the real life and she had a hard time adjusting to that. On their way back they had talked about the development of their relationship, and decided that they still wanted to enjoy it without having everyone know. Nobody would notice that they spent the time together, since they had always done that, but it gave them a chance to develop this new stance further, without the involvement of others.

The only problem with that was that now they were trying very hard at work to stay away from each other and that turned out to be harder than Emily had ever thought. Even on the plane, they would sit on the opposite of each other to not accidently fall into habit. Emily sighed as she made her way down the road to her friend's house. She hadn't seen JJ often enough since she had left for her maternity leave, especially since Emily was spending most of her time with her boyfriend. Right after Christmas she hadn't trusted herself with visiting her friend, knowing too well that JJ could read her like an open book. She had been afraid that the blonde would find out in an instant about the relationship they tried to keep a secret.

Now that a month had gone by she had run out of excuses and she really wanted to see her good friend and baby boy, after all, there was much to tell, even if she left out the details about her love life. An hour later, the friends were sitting together on the couch supplied with warm tea and chattering about their lives. Emily found it quite amusing as all her coworker could talk about was the baby she was taking care of. This went until she realized how often Avery crossed her thoughts with stories about her. More than once did she have to stop herself from telling that story as a precaution of not giving her relationship away.

"But I have to say I'm glad to be done with this whole pregnancy thing." JJ threw in after another story from shortly after Henry's birth.

"Yea?" The agent glanced up from her teacup. Her experience with pregnancy was limited to two months and a few days and had not ended well. She swallowed and maneuvered the memory in the back of her mind.

"Yes, weird carvings that you eat only to throw up afterwards and not to mention the constant tiredness." There was a small pause as Emily's mind was crossed with the thought that she had been really tired recently, combined with a weird appetite, but she put that thought away as soon as it came to her mind and tried to overplay the pause.

"Good thing I'm not planning on going there." She took another sip of the warm liquid and raised an eyebrow as she saw her friends trying glance.

"You would make a good mom, you know?"

Emily stared at her. For the shortest moment, she was afraid she had given her relationship to both Derek and Avery away after all. Why else would JJ come to think of her as a mom?

"I saw you on cases with kids." Jennifer offered, misinterpreting the stare. "And of course Avery. You were amazing with her in the hospital and Morgan would certainly not let you watch his baby girl, if you didn't show some talent."

Emily, who had just taken another sip to prevent having to answer, started coughing as the liquid made its way down the wrong way. Exactly this was the reason why she hadn't come to see her friend for such a long time.

"You okay?" The young mother looked at her worryingly.

"Yes. I don't know what that was. Fact is my job has no room for children right now."

Not the best excuse she realized as she was met by an amused look: "Hotch and Morgan make it work and I will too, soon."

"Hotch and Derek both don't see their children nearly as much as they want to."

"It will be hard, but you could make it work as long as you want it to."

The brunette stared at her friend not sure how to get out of this conversation. Thankfully, Henry helped her out as he announced loudly that something upset him. Without another word, his mother hurried over, leaving Emily to sort through her thoughts. When they picked up their conversation, again, she was able to shift it into a different direction and thankfully, the topic didn't come up again.

Instead of going home after the visit she went over to the Morgan place as she had done most of the time in the last month. By now, she even had a little space in the closet where she had her most worn clothes so she would be prepared in case of a surprise sleep over. Not that they were so much of a surprise anymore, as it seemed almost natural to spend the night at her boyfriend's place and it gave them some more time for just the two of them.

It had gotten late and she quietly entered the building with the key she still had from the time after his accident. A glance on her watch told her that Avery was being put to bed right now, so she decided to stay downstairs so she wouldn't disrupt the calmness of the night. In the kitchen, she made herself a sandwich before moving to the living room and sinking into the couch.

As she had finished her sandwich, she leaned back into the cushions and closed her eyes. It wasn't too long after when she heard him on the stairs and then coming closer. Her eyes still closed a smile came to her lips as his hands moved to her shoulders and started massaging them.

"How is it that you look more exhausted than me, although I just wrestled the 18 month old to bed?" He asked with an amused tone while working through the stiffness in her back.

"I don't know, I'm just tired and it is a good way of getting a massage."

"You know nothing comes for free." She could almost hear the grin in his voice and she finally opened her eyes, while leaning her head back so she could see him.

"Well that payment will have to wait. I'm ready to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow."

He laughed and let go of her shoulders, not without softly brushing his hands against the warm skin of her cheek.

"How was your time with Jay?"

"It was fun." He raised an eyebrow at her as this was her whole answer, but something else had come back to her mind.

"Do I talk as much about Avery at work as you or Hotch about Jack?"

"I guess I'm the wrong person to ask that, because I do it all the time. Why?"

She rubbed her hands over her tired eyes, before finally getting up. She walked the few steps around the couch to meet him and snuck her arms around his waist.

"I just realized how much JJ talks about Henry and how often I was tempted to answer with an Avery story and I was thinking that if I talk as much about her as I wanted to earlier, then that might bring us into trouble."

"Everyone knows that you are Avery's favorite babysitter."

"Well yeah, but a babysitter doesn't keep talking about the kid, like a mother does."

He didn't respond and when she looked up she saw a smile playing on his lips, which made her raise her eyebrow. His smile turned into a chuckle, before he decided to respond.

"I like that thought." She still looked confused so he clarified: "You as mother."

She shook her head at him and turned: "What is it with everyone thinking I would be a great mom. I lost that chance a long time ago."

Derek's stare followed her, as she headed upstairs, not entirely sure what she meant by that last sentence. His words were meant to be a compliment for her and now she seemed to be mad at him. He shook his head and followed her a few minutes later. She had somehow managed to change into her nightgown and nestle into the sheets before he got there. He sighed and made his way into the master bathroom. When he came back into the bedroom, she still had her eyes closed, but when he pulled her into his arms he realized that she was not asleep. A small smile of relief came to his lips as she moved closer to him.

Hours later he slowly opened his eyes as his hands kept touching the bed instead of his girlfriend. He had his eyes wander through the dark room, but he couldn't find her and there was also no light under the bathroom door. He sat up shaking of the last of his sleep before he got out of bed and walked down the hallway. He listened hard to hear her work in the kitchen, but the house was perfectly quiet. It was more out of routine that he glanced into Avery's room, but there he found both his girls. Emily was leaning back in the rocking chair she hated, and had the little girl curled up on her lap. When he came closer, he could see the head of the duck sticking out of her blanket.

He leaned down to move his daughter to her own bed, but Emily almost immediately tightened her grip on her. He sighed noticing her paranoid agent side even in her sleep.

"Emily, love." He said softly in an attempt to wake her up, but the only effect that had was her pulling the little girl closer.

"Love, you have to wake up."

She startled then abruptly opened her eyes, pressing Avery closer to her, ready to fight any possible intruder.

"Whoa, it's me. Calm down."

Her features soften, as she took him in and she slowly released her firm grip around the little girl.

"Just trying to move my daughter back into her bed."

She watched quietly as he moved the sleeping toddler and then followed him out of the room.

"What were you doing out there?"

"Avery was upset, so I held her for a while."

"I didn't hear her cry."

That was because she hadn't. Emily had awoken from a bad dream. A dream she had thought she had banned into the back of her head, but suddenly Doyle had been very real again. She glanced at Derek not sure what to say. After her dream, she had to make sure Avery was okay and the best way to do that was by holding her.

"Well my sleep is always very light. I probably got to her, before the crying got too loud." He looked at her skeptically, but finally lay back down.

"You know what I said earlier about you being a mother; it was supposed to be a compliment. You shouldn't put yourself down on the whole thing."

She glanced at him. He hadn't discovered her lie, but this topic was very close to the other and she didn't want to talk about either one of them.


	15. Simple Gesture

Hi everyone. Thanks for all your reviews, they truly make my days and I'm so glad there are still new names showing up and that you enjoy reading. Thanks to Lena-F, crazykelly101, RealMe07, paullyn6, KazyCMfan, lachildress, Pheonix1995, THeMysteriousGeek2345, Swifty1678, Xyrah329, CrimeFan23, Trunte37, 123a456e, LOVESxPAGET, Guest, Aaliayah13, hayleybuist1998, leahloahla.

Oh and of course love for my lovely lovelover Kendall. This piece of fluff should satisfy your needs. Happy Sunday.

As of her teenage pregnancy, it will come up in a couple of chapters. There will be a Demonlogy chapter, well not directly the episode but it will pick up the topics.

This chapter is based on some of the events in Cold 4x14 Cold Comfort. Especially the Horoscope talk they have at the beginning. For those that forgot: watch?v=1tooi8LMnpU

**Simple Gesture**

"_Finding someone you love and who loves you back is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. But finding a true soul mate is an even better feeling. A soul mate is someone who understands you like no other, loves you like no other, will be there for you forever, no matter what. They say that nothing lasts forever, but I am a firm believer in the fact that for some, love lives on even after we're gone."_  
― Cecelia Ahern, _P.S. I Love You_

Emily had tried to forget about the stupid horoscope, but of course, he wouldn't let it go. She was sitting on the couch a few hours after they had gotten back from the case and had Avery cuddled up in her lap. They had been watching a Disney movie but the little girl was too tired to keep up with the movie for a long time.

"So would it be that 'pesky lunar influence' that is ruining your romantic mood?"

She didn't even bother to look in his direction. This whole last case he had brought the horoscope up whenever they had been alone for more than a few seconds. While he had claimed that he didn't believe in them, he made a big deal out of hers.

"The fact that my boyfriend keeps bringing it up, might be part of the reason."

He laughed while sitting down next to her. Just now did her eyes wander to the cups he was holding. Her features soften as he handed her one of them. She sighed after taking a careful sip of the hot chocolate and chewed on the small marshmallows. Derek always seemed to know how to get on her good side again.

"I don't get how JJ does it. It was so hard to leave Avery behind and I didn't do this whole breast feeding bonding thing."

"I would go crazy if I had to stay at home with a baby 24/7." Emily had no problem admitting that and chuckled slightly as he gave her a shocked look. Besides that look, though he knew that it was true. They were much alike when it came to that. He loved being with his daughter, but at the same time he needed some action in his life, something that had nothing to do with baby talking. This might also be the reason why he had never given much thought of her as a mother until she had started to bond with Avery and became his girlfriend.

"You would love it."

Her eyes wandered over to him and as their eyes locked he got a glimpse of well-hidden feelings. He could have sworn that she had the same motherly look as his own mother, or even one Elizabeth would wear. A smile spread across his face and he looked down to his daughter, missing how her smile froze into place as she realized what he might just have seen. Those feelings she was hiding inside herself had little to do with Avery. Yes, she loved Avery like her own daughter, but those old memories and the love that came with it, were reserved for two different children. One of them being her never born child, while the other was the blonde little boy, who was the only good thing Doyle had brought into her life. While she loved both of them with all her heart, there was also a huge amount of regret and she was going to do everything to avoid that kind of feeling when it came to Avery.

They sat for a little longer before Derek decided to move his daughter to her bed and the couple went upstairs, spending the rest of the night with rather lame activities like finishing a book. Emily wasn't in the mood to have long conversations and so finally, she simply snuggled into his side when she was done reading. Her head was rested on his chest and the regular movement of his breathing seemed to calm her down. Derek continued to read for a little longer, but then put his book down and turned the light off, to allow her to go to sleep.

She was about to doze off when he began to speak again.

"Just in case that this is what could 'neutralize this temporary cold', you should know that I am very much falling in love with you."

The last words drove away all the sleepiness that had come over her within the last minutes. Her eyes snapped open and she lifted her head far enough to be able to make out his face in the soft light coming from the street.

"What did you just say?" She finally forced the words over her lips. Her soul yearned to hear the words again.

He laughed and moved, so he was laying on his side now, her still close by in his arms. "You heard me."

She swallowed. Although she trusted him with her life, opening her heart was a completely different story. Once that step was done, she was absolutely vulnerable to him. "Well I'd just like to hear it again."

"I'm in love with you, Emily Prentiss."

It seemed to be so much easier to hunt a serial killer than to give away her feelings, but after a long pause, she was able to push the words over her lips.

"I love you too."

It was too dark for her to see his smile, but she could feel it on his lips as he pulled her closer to kiss her.

When Derek woke up the next morning, he made his way downstairs to get breakfast ready. It was their day downtime and he was going to use that freedom. Half an hour later, he came back upstairs with a tray filled with her favorites. He placed the tray on the bed and then leaned down to kiss her. She slowly woke up, but wasn't willing to be awake yet and pulled her pillow over her head. He laughed and grabbed the plate with bacon and moved it closer to where her head was buried.

"What's that smell?"

"Bacon." He announced proudly. Only her reaction wasn't what he had expected. She sat up, gave the food a glare, before struggling out of bed and disappearing into the bathroom. He got worried when he heard her throw up. The bacon was forgotten and he hurried into the bathroom to help her in any way he could.

His hands hurriedly gathered her hair to keep it from falling into the mess. He hadn't known that she wasn't feeling well, but then again she could have just caught the flu bug on the airplane.

"If I didn't know better, I would say you are pregnant, so please keep that flu bug to yourself." He joked half-heartedly. Another wave of nausea saved Emily from glaring at him in shock. For the shortest moment, the image of a throwing up JJ flickered through her head, but the taste in her mouth and dizziness in her head helped to successfully distracted her from the unwanted thought.

Finally, she was able to settle against the bathtub and he handed her a washcloth to clean up her face. She grunted in disgust and she realized the taste in her mouth and struggled to her feet to get to the sink. In the whole process of rinsing out her mouth, she could feel his worried eyes on her, while having his hand on her back, clearly ready to catch her if the nausea won over her. When she felt like the taste was gone or at least had diminished, she turned.

"Would you get that bacon out of the bedroom?"

His eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, but even the thought of it, makes me feel like throwing up again."

He nodded slowly and left the room. After removing the tray he went to guide Emily back to the bed. She still looked pale, but at least she was complaining about him being worried again. Therefore, he hoped that it wasn't quite as bad as stomach flus can be.

"Just give me another hour of sleep and everything will be fine again."

Again, he agreed quietly and moved the comforter around her, before taking the rest of the tray outside to the living room. He didn't have much time to think about what had just happened, as his daughter announced excitedly that she was awake. Knowing how much the little girl loved bacon, he took the plate with him and settled with her on his lab in the rocking chair.

Avery was more than happy to be the disposal of the bacon and even Derek had a piece. He was deep in thought about what had just happened and simply let go of the little girl as she went to play. It was not like Emily or her stomach to react in this kind of way towards the food. With all they saw every day in their job it was not easy to upset their stomachs at all. Maybe he should just call the pharmacy to see, if there was a flu going around, and what to do about it. Derek sighed and got up to get Avery dressed, but then realized that she had disappeared.

When he stepped into the hallway, he could hear her giggling from his bedroom. Apparently she had awakened Emily again and was now being entertained by her. He stepped into the room and saw with amusement how the girl dived under the blanket to hide.

"Have you seen Avery?" He asked with a smile, while stepping closer.

"I'm afraid not." She mirrored his smile.

"I wonder where she is."

Both of them grinned as they heard the muffled giggle.

"Maybe…" He stepped closer and then began tickling the girl through the blanket.

The little girl struggled free from her cover and pulled him down on the bed with all her weight on him.

"Maybe we should just have a bed day."

He sighed and fell into the soft mattress next to Emily, while lifting Avery up.

"Sounds good to me," the woman responded while claiming her spot at his side.


	16. Life changing news

Thank you so much for all the reviews and support I truly appreciate it. Thanks to RealMe07, paullyn6, LOVESxPAGET, Guest, Lena-F, Pheonix1995, TheMysteriousGeek2345, 123a456e, Guest, Nix1978, CrimeFan23, , news for parrots, and leahloahla. Also thanks to busy bee Kendall. I hope life slows down soon, so I get to read more from you again.

The part everyone has waiting, some of you even begging for. This is set right after Demonology. I don't write the actual episode, but the first paragraph will explain the setting. P.S. I think I got a little dramatic at some points, but who doesn't love drama?

**Life changing news**

"_When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."_  
― J.M. Barrie, _Peter Pan_

Emily leaned her head against the cold of the cream colored tiles which surrounded her bathtub. The tears had stopped running down her cheeks a while ago. It had been a hard few days, first getting the news about Matthew and then having to work through the mess her teenage life had been. She had come home after standing in front of the church, for what felt like an eternity to her. A moment had come when she had finally felt at peace with the church and more importantly with Matthew. She just knew that they were now even and she felt like she didn't have to live with quite as much guilt anymore.

On her way home, she had taken another step out of her guilt. She had stopped at the pharmacy and picked up the little box she should have gotten weeks ago. It had been a long time since she had last used one of those and all the features a pregnancy test had these days had surprised her. According to the description, it would even tell her how far along she was, that is if she really was pregnant. However, if she was very honest with herself than she knew not only that she was in fact pregnant, but also since when. It was just that she still wasn't ready to face it.

The last few days had helped to face many of the old and suppressed memories of her teenage pregnancy. Having to talk about it had helped her to find something like closure to it; however, the thought of being pregnant again freaked her out nonetheless.

She tightened her grip around the small stick in her right hand and moved it off from the floor. She had been sitting in her bathroom for almost an hour now and the test had been done the last fifty-five minutes of it. She closed her eyes as she moved the hand into position to be able to read it. After taking another deep breath, she carefully opened one eye. Seeing the result, she shut it again, in a childish attempt to avoid the reality.

"Pregnant." She had to whisper the word to help realize the impact of the test. After a few more minutes she abruptly opened her eyes and let them glide to the part of the test that told her how far along she was. She sighed and let the test sink down next to her.

This was anything but what she had planned for her life. Not that family had ever played a role in her life planning. After the abortion, she had just assumed that she had lost her right for a happy family. Then there was still the problem of her fight with Derek earlier. She knew that she had been too harsh with him, but there was also the little part of her that still was upset about him not siding with her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her cell phone. She pushed herself up and then hurried into the bedroom where she had left the phone. She sighed when she saw his name on the caller ID, but at the same time, she was relieved that he would make the first step.

"Hi."

"_Hi Princess."_ Silence followed. Emily was still too overwhelmed by her news and he just didn't know what to say. _"I'm sorry about earlier. I did support you, I was just worried too."_

She nodded silently, until she realized that he couldn't see that: "I think I owe you an explanation."

"_Well it would be nice to hear the story behind everything. Are you coming over tonight?"_

"Yeah."

"_Could you get over there right now?"_

She chuckled slightly: "Does Sophie need to leave early?"

"_You know me too well. Hotch just handed me some more files that needed to be done."_

"Yea I guess I can head over there right now."

"_Okay. I see you later."_

"Yeah."

"_And Emily?"_ She had been about to hang up, when his voice sounded again.

"Yes?"

"_I love you."_

A smile crept to her face: "I love you too."

Half an hour later, she entered Avery's room after sending off Sophie. The little girl was sitting in her little stall playing with her ball. Emily walked over to her and let her hand glide through the dark curls.

"Mommy."

"Oh baby girl, you have no idea what you did."

"Da." The little girl placed her ball into Emily's hand, but the woman was not throwing it as she had hoped, so the baby grabbed the ball again.

"I still can't believe there is going to be two of you soon."

Avery's big brown eyes went up to look at the woman she had chosen to be her mother.

"What do you think of a little brother or sister?"

For a moment, the girl looked at her as if she was thinking about the question, but then her attention went back to her toys. This was probably not the right topic to discuss with a one-and-a-half-year-old. Emily sighed and was about to sit down when her phone started to vibrate in her jeans pocket. She was surprised when she saw Derek's caller ID again. She had assumed she would see him later, so she was a little worried when she answered the phone.

"Don't tell me there is a case."

"_There is no case."_ She could hear his chuckle and smiled.

"Okay, so you just missed me so much that you had to call me, although you are on your way home?" She joked, but to her surprise there was no laugh coming back.

"_I'm actually on my way to see Hotch. I'm going to transfer to a different unit."_

"What are you talking about?"

"_Today, I wanted to be there for you, but my job was to be objective and this just gets in our way, so I decided I'm going to make it easy and just leave."_

"NO." She didn't realize that she yelled the short word until it got awfully quiet.

"_Em, I made my decision. I will see you later."_ Before she could respond with anything else, he had hung up on her. She stared at her phone for the shortest moment, than her eyes went to the little girl.

"Your dad is about to make a big mistake." She lifted Avery up and made her way downstairs to grab her purse, just to hurry outside. Thankfully, she had bought a seat for the baby a while ago, because it made it a lot easier to handle things without planning. While making her way back to Quantico she broke more than one law and was just lucky enough to not get caught. She ran inside and through the security check upstairs. In the bullpen, the luck left her and she ran into most of her friends. Rossi had been sitting with Reid, while JJ and Garcia were leaning over photos of little Henry.

"Emily." Rossi's voice had everyone look up and especially the tech looked delighted, when she recognized the little girl in her friend's arms.

"I don't have time. Is Derek still with Hotch?"

"He has been in there for quite a while, actually." Reid glanced at his watch.

Emily didn't respond to that but hurried up the stairs, ignoring Garcia's protest on taking Avery with her. She stopped in front of her boss's door for a short knock and then entered. Morgan looked up and raised an eyebrow at her sight, while she was still catching her breath.

"We are in a meeting, Prentiss."

"I know." She closed the door behind herself, being well aware of the fact that her other colleagues eyes and ears were glued on her. "He can't leave the team."

His eyes widened, while Hotch just raised an irritated eyebrow. "I don't see how that is your business."

"Well it isn't, I guess." She swallowed. How was she going to stop him without letting Hotch know about her pregnancy before she told the father of her child? Her attention left the problem for a moment, when Avery's pulling on her shirt got stronger. She wanted down so she could get to her dad. Emily sighed, setting the girl down, before looking back to her boss.

"I have to leave the team, so if you allow him to transfer out; you will lose two of us." Her eyes wandered between the two men.

"What do you mean with you have to leave?"

"I just have to." Her voice was stern and she hoped that they would stop arguing with her, but one glance at Morgan told her that he just started.

"No you don't. This was my decision, I have some good job offers, and you don't."

"I don't intend on leaving for another job." Well maybe you could call being a mother a job. "I mean, it is kind of a job and I'm already in, so I can't change that."

"Prentiss, you do know that you need my okay for a transfer."

"Not for this one." She hated to pull the card. The last time she had pulled it, it had been on her boss who had tried to keep her when Interpol had requested her. This time it was by far not as drastic, but still Hotch wouldn't be able to stop it.

"And where would this job be?" She could hear the anger and hurt in Derek's voice, as he sat his daughter back down, now that she was done hugging him.

"This is not the time to explain that."

Both men looked at her with raised eyebrows, now. They were not going to let her off the hook that she could see in their faces.

"This is really not ready for big announcements."

"Well if you want to convince me to stay, it probably should be the time." Derek's irritated tone had her eyes go wide. She caught his glance and silently pleaded with him to drop it, but it was too late.

"I have to agree with him." She shot Morgan a last apologetic glance, before she looked back at her boss.

"I'm pregnant." She swallowed again.

"You are what?" and "Congratulations." Were mixed together as both men spoke at the same time. She kept her eyes on her boss, unable to look back at her boyfriend.

"So who is the lucky father, if you don't mind me asking?"

Emily's eyes almost immediately shot to Derek. She had assumed that he had given Hotch the details and reasons for his leaving, but apparently, that was not the case, or he wouldn't have asked the question. Aaron being a profiler for many years didn't miss that glance and he counted one and one together.

"I think I need to talk to Rossi about this report." He grabbed a random file of his desk. "I will be back in ten minutes, maybe fifteen."

Emily's gaze followed him to the door. As it opened, she could see Penelope's curious face shooting questioning glances at her. She swallowed as the door closed and finally turned to Derek.

"How long did you know this?"

"A few hours." Just now, she noticed how pale his face looked. "Are you okay?"

"Yea." He didn't sound very convincing though.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to tell you like this, but your phone call, I couldn't let you do this. There was no point in giving up your job, I have to get on desk duty if not leave the team anyway." She tried to connect with his eyes, but he stared at the floor. Slowly tears collected in her eyes and she swallowed hard, trying to keep her voice under control. "Please say something."

"How far along are you?"

"What?"

"The pregnancy. How long have you been pregnant?"

Her eyes went wide as she remembered the number on the little test.

"Christmas." It was a small whisper, barely loud enough for him to hear. At least now, he looked at her, although his face was more than confused.

"That is three months and you just noticed now?"

"Well I put away most of the symptoms as stress." In addition, she had been just too scared to admit it, but she was not going to tell him that, not while they were trapped in Hotch's office. "I will explain this all, but right now I just want you to stop this whole transfer thing."

Her voice was about to break by the time the sentence was over. Getting the news under these circumstances had caught him of guard. Now that Hotch had left a room, the true impact of the information hit him and slowly a smile spread on his lips. He was going to be a dad again. He was going to be there for every step and every moment, but the best part was that he actually loved the woman, who was expecting their baby. Even if he had known that Avery's mom was pregnant with her, it wouldn't have brought the happy family. They might have tried to make it work, but it had been just what it had been a simple, meaningless one-night-stand. He heard her suppressed sniff and finally looked up. He could see the tears shimmering in her eyes and immediately felt bad. As he got up, his eyes went over to the blinds to check that they were still closed, before he pulled her into his arms. Emily didn't care about any possible audience when she sank into him, all she needed was the reassurance that she hadn't completely messed up her life again by becoming pregnant.

"This is going to be a long night with all the explaining you promised me by now." Her arms wrapped tighter around his back and he could feel her tears on his shirt, making him feel worse about his reaction. "Don't cry."

"Can't help it." The fabric of his shirt muffled her voice and he smirked with relief.

"Let me guess, you are going to blame hormones on anything that is off for the next six months."

"Something like that." She looked up and was relieved when she finally was met by a smile. His hand moved up to wipe the tears from her face.

"You know, this wasn't exactly what I expected to hear today, but I have to admit that I like the idea of you being stuck with me for a little longer." He was going to say forever, but he was smart enough to realize that a child would not necessarily have them stay together forever and how vulnerable she reacted to ideas like that.

"Well it's not like you have much choice there." She smirked.

"I don't need a choice on this. You are going to have our baby and I love you Emily."

"I love you, too." They allowed themselves a short kiss, hoping Hotch wouldn't walk in right at that moment, but it wasn't their boss, who interrupted them. Suddenly someone wrapped their arms around one of each of their legs, and an excited "hug" was audible.

"Looks like 'hug' is going to be the new favorite word of the week." Derek commented dryly and reluctantly let go of her to pick up his little girl.

"You mean of the month. The last word lasted for almost three months."

"Mommy is more important."

Emily laughed, while moving her hand over her own cheeks to wipe of the remainders of the tears. There was a soft knock against the door that caused her to step away from him.

"Are you two through?" Hotch walked back into his office.

"Yes sir." Derek handed Avery back to Emily. "I'm going to stay and well I guess Em will have to fill out some paperwork."

"That's for sure. My only question would be on how official we are on this issue."

The couple exchanged a short glance.

"If we could get a few days to sort through things," Emily finally responded.

"As long as we use those days to also sort through your paperwork."

"Sure."

"Well I think that little girl over there is ready to take her parents' home."

Emily couldn't help herself to raise an eyebrow at her boss before she turned to leave his office. This had gone way too easily. She had expected to be in major trouble, but so far, he even seemed to be understanding. She was tempted to just grabbed Derek's hand, but at the same time, she wasn't ready to face Garcia's questions quite yet. They needed to talk first. Nonetheless, she felt his hand at the small of her back. For anyone who wasn't looking for it, it was just a friendly gesture, but for her it was the reassurance that she had needed.

"What happened?" The tech hurried closer as they exited their boss office.

"Everything is fine, baby girl."

"But Avery is here. Something must have happened."

"I was just babysitting."

They could see in the faces of their team that they didn't play very well.

"You have been in there for almost an hour Morgan, Emily for twenty minutes, from which Hotch left for about ten." Reid informed them.

"See? So something must be off."

"We got into some trouble, but nothing that will jeopardize the team." Derek's eyes wandered to his girlfriend as she spoke.

"What kind of trouble?" Garcia piped up.

"Remember that case two weeks ago? We cleared a house and missed a room. Nothing happened, but it could have."

They still looked suspicious, but there wasn't much to argue, as everyone besides Garcia had been there on the case and heard about the house they had to clear.

"So nothing is going to change?"

"Well, we will have to do some extra training with some newbies."

That seemed to satisfy Penelope as she pulled both of them into a hug, before hurrying back into her own office. JJ also disappeared towards her office and Reid began packing up. Only Rossi still had his eyes on the pair. His eyes had also been the only ones that had detected Morgan's hand on her back when they had left Hotch's office. Emily gave him a small smile, before she made her way to the elevator. It only took Derek a minute to gather his bag and follow her and his daughter. As the elevator doors closed, she breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Rossi knows." She then quietly said.

"What does the man not know?" He smirked, pulling her towards him for the shortest moment to press a kiss into her hair, before stepping back in case the doors would open unexpectedly. "Although you did put on quite the show for them, if I hadn't known that you lied, I would have believed you."

She shrugged, before setting Avery on the floor keeping a tight grip on her hand. "When did your daughter get so heavy?"


	17. Talking Things Through

Hi everyone, thanks for reading and keeping up with this story. Thanks to Lena-F, leahloahla, paullyn6, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, Pheonix1995, Xyrah329, RealMe07, CrimeFan23, Nix1978, news for parrots, 123a456e, dannyanne, LOVESxPAGET, and Guest. It's great to read the reviews and see what you think about the story and what you would like to see next. Also thanks to all those reading, who don't have the time reviewing. I appreciate that you are reading anyway.

Thanks to Lovely Lovelover for Beta Reading. The chapters wouldn't come to perfection without you. Some of them in fact wouldn't exist without you.

The chapter starts right where the last one left off and you are going to get some Demily talking things through. It's a little rollercoaster of feelings, some sweet moments, some fighting. Have fun.

Talking things through

"_**Life would be a lot easier if conversations were rewindable and erasable, like videos. Or if you could instruct people to disregard what you just said, like in a courtroom."**_  
― Sophie Kinsella, _Confessions of a Shopaholic_

They spent some time with Avery after dinner, until it was time for her to go to bed. He took the little girl upstairs, while Emily cleaned up the kitchen. By the time he came back down, she was sitting on the couch, with her legs angled in front of her, hugging them tightly. She knew what was coming now: the talking. It wasn't like she didn't want him to know about it, she just didn't want to tell it again. It hurt too much to bring those memories back. Her eyes followed him as he sank on the couch. He was close but he kept his distance, giving her the space she needed without leaving her alone at the same time. They sat quietly for a while, as he didn't want to push her. Finally, his eyes wandered back to her and as she didn't speak he started to retell his own thoughts.

"Maybe we should start at the beginning. That night you said you would be stopping by after you met your friend, well you never did. I assumed it got late and you were closer to your place, then the next thing I know is Hotch calling me into his office the next morning sending me off to the morgue with you to look at your friend's dead body. All he told me was that we were looking into it, because you were suspicious. You…" He glanced over at her: "didn't tell me a thing. You were just out of it."

"I can explain…"

"Let me finish please." His voice was soft, although she suspected that he was still upset. "I saw that there was reason to be suspicious, but I also saw how emotionally involved you were when you questioned the coroner's procedure. I just tried to be objective, because I knew you weren't able to and I also knew that you would do the same for me if I needed someone to keep my mind clear."

"Derek…" He glanced at her as she started her sentence and she closed her mouth again, remembering his request of letting him finish.

"I did see the connections and believe me I did do my homework on it, but there was just not enough to do it in the open. Hotch got into a lot of trouble and I'm sorry but I couldn't lose my job and neither can Hotch. A few months ago, I would have been all up for it, but I have Avery to worry about. This had nothing to do with loyalty towards you. I helped Penelope digging and I was right there when Rossi said that you needed help to take that guy down."

He turned his gaze towards her. "You don't like to hear it, but every once in a while you need someone to protect you and I was trying to be that person, because I saw that you were completely lost after you got that news. I wanted to leave the team, because it was the worst feeling ever having to choose between the woman I love and my job. I just wanted to hold and support you, but I couldn't."

She nodded slowly now unable to hold her tears back anymore. "Can you hold me, now?"

Derek moved instantly wrapping her up into his strong arms, now that he had her permission. Sometime after her tears had begun to dry, she started telling the story. How she had arrived in Italy and met Matthew, but he hadn't been good enough, she wanted the cool friends. How she hadn't realized her mistake until she found out that she was pregnant and suddenly the only friend she had left was Matthew. She told him, how even John chose their friends over her and finally, the abortion and the lost feeling afterwards. How only Matthew's support had saved her from doing something even more stupid. Finally, the regret and the guilt that was still within her.

"I knew that I was pregnant since January. I visited JJ and she talked about all those things she had liked and disliked about her pregnancy and I just knew." She swallowed. "I felt like I didn't deserve the second chance, so I figured if I ignored it long enough it would just go away, like a disease."

"Emily…"

She lifted her head from his shoulder: "No, now it's my turn to finish. This case the last few days, it hurt so badly, but I suddenly realized that a baby wasn't just going away and when I knew that Matthew would be okay, wherever he is now, I could finally breathe again. Look into the future, our future."

Emily lifted her hand to wipe the tears of her cheeks: "So I took the test and then you called me to head over to keep Avery. I was shocked, I mean I knew it for months, but at the same time that test just was like a blow into my face. I headed to your place and was discussing the issue with Avery, when you decided to make everything even more complicated and try to quit. I could see why you were trying to do that, but with me having a baby there was no reason for you to quit. Actually we might depend on your job."

He nodded slowly, while pulling her back into his arms. Suddenly her passion about the case made a lot more sense to him and he wished she had opened up to him, like she had to Rossi. He knew that the older man was like a father to her, but at the same time they were trying to make this relationship thing work and she didn't seem to be able to trust him.

Then there was this big part of him, who just wanted to dance at the thought that she was expecting their child. He would have never brought the topic up, as their relationship was to new for both of them, but the more he had watched her with his daughter, the more convinced he became that she would make a wonderful mom. That's when he remembered how harsh she had reacted whenever she got complimented on her parenting skills.

"Are you okay with this?"

She glanced up at him, not sure what he was referring too.

"Are you okay with having this child?"

"Well I need time to adjust to the thought, but I'm not going to make the same mistake I did twenty years ago."

Her mood brightened as his smile gave his true thoughts away.

"I will blame you for my misery though, when I get fat and especially when I'm in labor."

He laughed out loud. As long as that was the only thing he got blamed for, he would live. For now, Derek was simply relieved that she was ready to take the challenge and with that, take him.

"So you were discussing the issue with my 18 month old daughter?" Her only response was a sheepish nod. "Well what did she have to say about it?"

"She would like a sister."

"Oh would she?" He laughed. "I think she wants a brother, so Daddy finally has some male support in the family."

"Admit it, you love all the girls surrounding and admiring you."

"Is one boy too much to ask for?"

She smirked and rolled her eyes at him. He rarely commented on the fact that he was the only male in his family, but when he did, he made it sound like it was a bad thing, although she knew very well that he wouldn't trade one of his girls for anything.

"We'll see."

"I want to be there for the appointments, so tell me when and I will make sure Hotch doesn't get me out of town."

Now she looked up with a confused look. "You do realize that I will be out of town the same time as you are, so I won't be able to attend any appointments without you?"

She could see in his face that he disagreed and she braced herself for the argument about her going to the cases. Although she knew that he had a point, she was not about to skip out on all the fun and that was what he would be asking for.

"I will stay in active duty until this kid gets in my way and even then I will still be coming on the cases with you. JJ went basically until she was in labor."

"But JJ stays in the police station, while you are out kicking criminal butts. There is a difference Emily."

"I don't think I will feel like running as soon as your daughter starts growing, so let me have some more fun until then." From all what she had heard about pregnancies, she was almost done with the risky trimester anyway, so there was no reason of slowing down now that the child had already survived everything else.

"Emily, you could get shot at any point, the doctors can't operate on you without risking both of your lives." He didn't even argue over the gender of the baby anymore, because he was so focused on his worry for her and their child.

"I'll be careful."

He got up and started pacing behind the couch, until he finally turned and made his way upstairs. Emily sighed. Today wasn't their day. First, the misery of the case and now him trying to make her stop doing what she loved. She blinked the tears away that pressed in her eyes and got up after taking a deep breath.

When she came to the second floor, she found him in Avery's room, where he was standing in front of the crib and was staring down at his baby. She knew that she was making this unnecessarily hard, but she just wasn't ready to give her job up. Nobody could see that she was pregnant yet, so as long as she didn't provoke anyone there shouldn't be any risk. She slipped into the room and then wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You know I think you were right. This baby needs to be a boy, because it is impossible that you have room to worry about another little girl and how to scare boys away from her."

She was relieved when she felt him chuckle, as he moved to pull her into a complete hug. They stood like that for a long time, before she finally found the courage to speak again.

"I'm just not ready to sit at the desk and do nothing, while you have all the fun. Just give me a few days, maybe a case or two and I will back off after that, I promise."

As she looked up to meet his eyes, she could still see the deep concern, but he nodded softly and his eyes told her that he simply loved her too much to stop worrying now. He then leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her lips.

"You know you don't have to share me with the job all night long."

She smiled at him as he opened his eyes again.

"Maybe I call us in sick tomorrow as well."

She chuckled, before freeing herself out of his embrace and tagging him out of the room behind her.


	18. Omnivore

Next part. This is one of my personal favorites. The team gets a little more involved into the story, also this is an addition to Omnivore. But first things first: Thanks to Guest, Lena-F, KazyCMfan, 123a456e, paullyn6, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, Lenika08, CrimeFan23, Pheonix1995, Guest, leahloahla, and Nix1978.

And as always thanks to lovely Lovelover. This story wouldn't be the same without you.

Omnivore

"And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once."  
― Lauren Oliver, _Delirium_

They had been in the office when JJ and Hotch came down the stairs obviously arguing over the case. The couple exchanged a short glance, before looking back at the scene. A few days before Hotch had filed Emily's pregnancy, but nothing was in the computer system yet, to give them a chance to tell their friends when they were ready. As of their relationship, they were on probation. Aaron had offered to give them a chance, since they hadn't acted any different for the past months of dating and it really wasn't any of his business. He had made clear though that he would only put in his word for them if they kept working together as they were supposed to and didn't cause any trouble. He didn't mention to them that he figured the pregnancy would arise enough issues to see how good they were on keeping their private and work life separate.

As JJ resigned with a helpless gesture, Derek was already on the phone informing Sophie that she needed to watch Avery for the next few days, while Emily grabbed her bag. The briefing was fast and they were thrown right into the case. They worked together for most of the case as they were looking for Foyett and she knew that he was more than glad that she wasn't leaving the police station. But then he couldn't prevent it anymore and everything was going too fast for him to even think about it. They left, he with the local police officer, she with Rossi and before she knew what was happening she had cleared the house. Rossi and her were done fast and sent their okay, relief coming in when a second 'okay' echoed from Hotch and Reid, but then it stayed quiet.

Emily thought her heart would stop, as Morgan didn't give his okay. Before Rossi could say anything, she ran out of the house back to the SUV, ready to drive it by herself, but he stopped her and took the driver's seat.

"He is going to be okay, Emily." They still weren't official, but Rossi wasn't blind and saw almost all of the small and secretive gestures between them. He knew how deeply they cared for each other and not knowing what had happened to Derek made his heart ache for her.

"You don't know that."

"He wouldn't leave you and Avery alone."

"The Reaper doesn't care what Derek wants or not."

Rossi glanced at her and took in her pale face. Her hand was clenched on her stomach and for a moment, he was afraid that she would throw up, but she didn't. They were still a block away when Derek's raspy voice came through their earpieces.

"I need some medics over here."

Emily looked like she was going to faint, but at the same time she was relieved. They reached the house before they called medics. Rossi had barely stopped the SUV when she was flying out of the door to where he was standing. To her surprise Derek stopped her from hugging him. She knew that they were to act professionally, but she really wasn't in the mood to argue that now.

"I'm sure Hotch will understand."

"It's not that. My back is full of splitters, and even if hugging me doesn't hurt you, it will most likely be a very painful hug for me. And, you should really check the surroundings and see if he is still around."

That wasn't necessary as Rossi had already grabbed the police officers that had arrived and they secured the house, while the medics started to work on Derek's back. She didn't leave his side and Hotch was too busy to even notice. The short moment of thinking she had lost him, had gotten her thinking. She didn't want him to have to go through the same because she insisted on being in the field. If it had been her, the killer could have seriously hurt their child.

"Are you okay?" He softly asked, studying her bewildered face.

She nodded, but he knew it was a lie. Hotch came back to talk to him, so he decided to postpone and gave him the details of what he remembered. They didn't get another chance to talk privately until they were in the plane. Derek had talked to their boss for a while, but then put his own anger aside, worrying about her. He got up from his seat, pocketing the bullet. When he sat down next to her at the booth, neither of them was trying particularly hard to keep their secret. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they had both fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. When they landed everyone went back to the office to write their reports. They weren't there for very long when JJ got the call. Morgan immediately walked to the TV watching the news, while she made the first important phone call. She could see the hurt and anger flash up in his eyes, but she was in working mode, so there was nothing she could do about it.

After a few hours of trying to get the report done, knowing that it was pointless as long as Foyett was on the run, Emily made her way to the bathroom. She needed to get her head clear. She hadn't missed the questioning glances her team members, especially JJ kept throwing over to her and she could only hope that she didn't give too much away. Of course, she was well aware of how stupid it had been to give in towards her feeling on the plane and fall asleep the way she had, but they all had needed someone to hold them after the case. When she stepped back out, Derek was waiting for her.

"Hi."

"Are you okay?" He repeated his question from earlier and she could clearly see the worry in his face. It was as if he had aged ten years within the last day. His eyes were tired from the case and the defeat he had taken from Foyett.

"Yes. I'm just tired."

"You really should slow down."

Emily raised an eyebrow at him. She hated it when he was so worried that he tried to change her mind, because it usually brought forth the same reflex she had towards her mother. She was convincing herself to keep pushing, even when her brain told her to stop, especially now that she had already come to her own decision.

"I will slow down; just give me the time I need."

He stared at her, clearly struggling within himself as he wanted to keep convincing her, but knew that she wasn't going to listen to him. When she saw the struggle in his eyes, she couldn't help herself but to feel sorry for him.

"Listen…" She stepped forward and put one hand on his cheek in an attempt to calm him down, but it only made him speak up again.

"This is not about you Emily. I know that you can take care of yourself, but I'm not sure if I can keep my head straight, if someone attacks you…" He took a deep breath. "And I really don't want to be the one to explain to Avery one day that both of her mommy's are dead."

The tears were shining in his eyes. The brunette hurriedly moved her other hand to his face, caressing it.

"What I was about to say, when you interrupted me." She gave him a small smirk. "I will tell Hotch to make it official and take me off field duty, but…" She paused. "I will still fly out with you. I can interrogate and talk to family members just fine."

He nodded softly and a smile slowly spread on his lips. Without further thinking, he pulled her into his arms and she responded with the same desperation. Her arms snuck around his neck and she moved as close to him as possible.

"I love you, Emily." It was a quiet whisper close to her ear and she didn't think much about responding. She lifted her head from his shoulder, her eyes giving him a more loving answer than words could ever do, and stretched the little way to meet his lips.

"Oh my gosh." The exclaim followed the banging of file folders to the floor. The couple jumped at the sudden interruption, but didn't move as far away from each other as they used to. At the end of the hallway, just around the corner they spotted Garcia, who was staring at them with wide eyes.

"What happened?" They could hear JJ's voice not far away and heard several feet walking in high speed towards the corner.

"You did say you wanted to go official, right?" Derek's dry comment was quiet enough so only Emily could hear him.

"Are you okay?" Rossi and Reid, who had followed JJ to find out what had happened, came around the corner taking in the scene.

The older agent almost immediately noticed the closeness of the couple and a knowing smirk spread over his face. Reid and JJ just had their eyes go from the pair to Penelope and back.

"They were…" Garcia stuttered the shock hadn't left her enough to make room for excitement yet.

"They were what?" Reid's eyes now locked on Morgan.

"I was kissing my girlfriend, that's all." With that, he pulled her back into his side, before starting to walk towards the offices. The sooner they let Hotch and Strauss know, the better for their jobs.

"You can't just say that and walk off." The tech cried, now frantically moving towards them. "How long has this been going on and why don't I know about it?"

JJ was close behind her, while Rossi just smirked knowingly and glanced at Reid. The couple did a good job in not answering the questions thrown at him, but hurried towards Hotch's office. They closed the door to a disappointed Garcia, before sitting down. Their boss had seen them coming and already knew what it was about. He had already filled out the paperwork needed for Emily's circumstances, but now put it into the system, before going on with the more serious business. While they had been figuring out what to do, Aaron had done his homework and found that under the circumstances they were in, nobody could force them apart. He pointed out that Strauss might insist on moving her to a different team as soon as she got back from her maternity leave, but that was still some time away.

When they stepped back out of the office, he could already see his best friend hurrying over. It was then that it dawned on him that they had to make one other announcement, while they were working on explaining everything else.

"Why don't you just all come to my place? We haven't had a team night in a while."

Although at least the two female team members still looked curious, everyone agreed. Hotch, who had been listening then announced that they should go home; the files could wait another night.

Emily didn't even bother pretending anymore and slid into the passenger seat of his SUV. Today had been way too long already and she was glad to be heading home. A smile came to her lips when the true impact of the thought caught up with her. Whenever she spoke of home now, the picture of Derek's house and more importantly his excited little girl came into her mind.

"What are you smiling about?" His hand had reached over to her as he drove out of the garage.

"Home: You, Avery, this baby."

He squeezed her hand on the last word, realizing what a huge impact that commitment must have in Emily's life. Back home her attention was immediately drawn to the little girl and so she began playing with her, while Derek put together some snacks and ordered in the food for their little get together.

After hanging up the phone, he stood in the doorway to the living room watching his girls. Neither of them was aware of him being there and they didn't need him either. It looked so natural how Emily brought the attention of the little girl to new objects and started the games. She never wanted to hear it, but the mother instinct and feelings were in her, whether she liked it or not. When the doorbell went off, he hurried to say that he would take care of it, wanting to give them some more bonding time.

He wasn't surprised that it was his best friend, who was early and almost immediately started with the load of questioning

"Woah Babygirl, chill. I will answer them, but I'd rather do it with everyone here." He guided her towards the living room, knowing too well that Avery would get the attention rather than him.

"Hi sweetness." Indeed, the trick worked and Penelope turned all her focus on the little girl. "Your parents are really sneaky, you know that?"

Emily smiled and got up. Where the word 'parents' would have freaked her out a few days ago, it seemed to be more than natural now.


	19. Telling the Story

The next part is here. Thanks to everyone, who is still out there reading. I know it is kind of getting long so I hope I don't bore you yet, because I believe at the end it will be worth the wait. Thanks to Pheonix1995, 123a456e, CrimeFan23, MeGkAtHeRiNe, paullyn6, RandyOrtonxWifexx, Lena-F, Guest, LOVESxPAGET, and Aaliayah13. You guys are the best. And yes you will be able to read the announcement, in fact you are only seconds away from reading it.

Thanks to Kendall for proofreading and giving me a few ideas for additions to this chapter. You probably don't even remember what they were, but I used quite a few of them.

Have fun!

**Telling the story**

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth."  
― Jess C. Scott, _The Intern_

The team slowly gathered. Everyone was amazed by the outgoing little girl, who whenever she could followed Derek or preferably Emily around the room. Finally, she was seated in her highchair and ate the food that was provided for her.

"So, I want to hear the story!"

The brunette looked over to Derek, and nodded towards him, after all she was busy feeding his daughter.

"Well as everyone knows Emily helped me a lot with Avery at the beginning." He carefully started. He wasn't entirely sure how to come to the point. As she looked back up, she caught Rossi's more than amused glance and shrugged with a small smile.

"At the beginning it was simply because she was the only one that knew. I just needed an adult to talk to for a change and she was the only one I could call without taking the risk of Avery giving me away."

"Oh I know where you are coming from. It is insane to be with a baby for 24/7 and get no adult interaction." JJ gave him a sympathetic smile. She had been there just a few weeks ago as well and it was harder than she had thought. Finally, that had been the reason for her decision to come back so early.

"Well and then the accident. Someone needed to stay with Avery while I was in the hospital and although she came to love grandma, Emily was the person she had gotten used to." He took a big bite from his dinner and looked over to his girlfriend as an indication to keep going for him.

"That's where the problems began." She offered, not too fond to having to tell this part of the story.

"What? What kind of problems could there be?" Penelope wasn't even looking at her food, but solely focused on the couple.

Emily's unsure glance moved over to him, but he just shrugged. He of course had never seen much of a problem there, until his mother had tipped him off.

"It got to the point where Avery started calling me mom."

"Mommy." He corrected as he much preferred the sweet nickname for the formal title of a mother, but she barely heard him as she took in the surprised looks on several of her friends' faces. Even Rossi had to close his mouth and raised an eyebrow at her.

"So I backed off, because obviously I wasn't her mother and Derek over there had a great time flirting with other women."

"But you were interested." JJ didn't even bother to ask, but rather stated the fact. Of course, neither of her female friends had missed the hint of jealousy that was still in her voice as she thought of his temporary closeness with Jordan.

"It was more that I had gotten so used to playing family." She swallowed at the confession. "Anyway, we had a big showdown and he decided the easiest way to resolve our issues would be to ask me out."

"And you agreed?"

"Obviously." Derek interfered, glancing towards his best friend. "What kind of girl is not interested in going out with Derek Morgan?"

Reid laughed, remembering too well their conversation two years ago, when he had asked his colleague exactly that question. Interestingly enough Derek had changed his ways for the very same girl the conversation had been about to begin with. And given, Avery was not a grown woman, but she had changed her father's life to the better as well.

That same little girl at that moment started whimpering, gaining first Emily's and then everyone else's attention. It had gotten late through the conversation, too late for toddlers. Em cleaned the face of the girl with a napkin, before lifting her out of the seat.

"I'm going to lay her down." Before leaving the room though, she handed her over to Derek to give him his chance of saying goodnight.

Both her female coworkers used that instance to get up and announce that they wanted to join her. Everyone was well aware that they wanted their chance for the dirty details, but Emily just shrugged.

"Be my guest."

A hug and kiss for daddy later the ladies were on their way upstairs.

When they came back downstairs, the men had moved to the living room and had glasses filled with an expensive wine out of Rossi's collection waiting for them. While the blondes grabbed theirs without hesitation Emily just sat down close to Derek. Of course, the older profiler moved the last glass immediately closer to her. He knew that she loved good and especially expensive wine and that had mainly influenced his choice back home.

"I'll pass."

Those two words brought her all of the attention. Emily Prentiss never passed on a good drink. With a sigh, she glanced at her boyfriend. They had not talked about how official they would get, but she figured that they might as well get all the secrets out of the way, but Dave interrupted her train of thought.

"This is the wine we have been talking about a few weeks ago. You were ready to do about anything for a try."

"Well I'm still ready to do about anything, but as of right now I'm limited in my drinking choices."

"What do you mean?"

Emily saw JJ's eyes grow wide and smiled as her friend gasped.

"Well let's say I would enjoy a bottle of that wine as a gift for the birth of our baby."

"Only if you are not planning on nursing," JJ interfered with a grin, but she was already on her way across the room to hug her friend.

Hotch smiled from his seat, relieved that all the secrets were out of the way now. Rossi, still standing close to the couple, shook the younger man's hand to congratulate him. Reid simply smiled at them, also congratulating. Only Penelope was standing a little ways away, not moving at all. Her eyes were fixed on Emily's stomach.

"I'm getting more snacks." With that, she disappeared.

Derek's eyes followed her, before he got up and went after her, sensing that her reaction was not a good sign. He quietly closed the door behind himself and leaned against it with his eyes fixed on her.

"What's the matter babygirl?'

When she looked up he saw tears in her eyes and he took in a sharp breath. Her reaction over the pregnancy had been odd, but now seeing her in tears made it bad.

"You could have told me." Her voice was quiet and far from its usual squeakiness.

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked as gently as he could.

"Everything. You could have told me about Avery, or about dating Emily, or the baby." A tear traveled down her face. "I thought we were friends, heck I call you my best friend. If I found out that I was pregnant you would be one of the first to hear."

"Penelope, we are best friends and you are one of the first to hear."

"Well it doesn't feel like it on this side."

He stared at her quietly.

"Emily told us about the first date. I didn't even know you went on a date."

He sighed. There wasn't an excuse for not telling his best friend, but he hoped that an explanation would at least make her understand. He moved towards her and gently pushed her into one of the kitchen chairs, before pulling his chair closer so he could grab her hands.

"Listen to me, Gorgeous. When Avery first came here, all I worried about was how I would look as a dad. I didn't want ANYONE to know, because I was afraid one of you would judge my rather bad parenting skills. Now, I know that is stupid, but I needed to figure this out just Avery and me."

"But Emily knew." Garcia piped up.

"Em stood in front of my door one night. I had spent all day battling Avery's temper problems and crying for her mother. She did what everyone does for his or her partner, she offered beer and a change of sight, and I was nowhere close to welcoming her. She was about to leave, because I wouldn't talk to her, when Avery started crying and obviously it was hard to hide a crying baby." He gave the smaller hands in his a squeeze.

"Yes, Emily knew, but anyone who would have walked in that moment would have. The point was that I didn't want anyone to know. It is so hard to have a private life in this team, because we are so close, but if I am really struggling then sometimes I just need a few days to figure things out by myself. Admittedly, it was more than a few days when it comes to our relationship, but it has the same reasoning. It was all new and we needed time to discover this new side of our relationship."

The tech quietly wiped the tears off her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Now the baby, I think that is Emily's story to tell, but the shortened version is that she was scared and it took her three months to even admit to herself and me that she was pregnant, and if it wasn't for Matthew's death she would still be in denial."

He saw his friend swallow. "I was waiting for her to be ready and I think when you caught us in the hallway earlier that was the moment when she was finally ready."

Pen nodded softly, now a small smile was on her lips. She had witnessed how upsetting the Matthew case had been for both Emily and Derek, although she hadn't known yet why her friend had been so upset about everything. She leaned back in her chair. Now that he had given her some more insight in the background of his life, she felt bad for her reaction earlier. They deserved some quiet time occasionally. After all, they had to deal with a toddler and an unborn child, while also figuring out how to be a couple outside of work.

"Wait so you said she was in denial for three months that means you got her pregnant like what a few weeks after the first date."

Derek laughed, as the quirkiness came back into his friend and the excitement spread across her face.

"Now babygirl," he stood up, held his hand out to pull her up and guide her back into the living room with one arm around her shoulder. "My sex life is really none of your business."

They joined back into the conversations the rest of the team had kept up, until slowly the members started to leave. Derek was at the door with Rossi exchanging a few last words, when Emily caught the techs arm.

"Penelope." Garcia's eyes wandered to the brunette, as she never used her real name unless it was very urgent. She saw the agent lick over her lips, which was another indication for her nervousness. "You are not upset about me dating Derek right?"

The blonde's eyes widened and a wide smile spread across her lips. "Actually I'm excited that you make him happy and more importantly that you are having another one of his adorable children."

"But…"

"I had issues with the fact that he never told me a thing, but I understand now or at least I try." Her eyes were still on the pregnant woman and suddenly something came to her mind. A grin spread across her face and she pulled the other woman in her arms.

"I think I forgot to officially congratulate you and get excited." She pulled away. "From now on I want daily updates. Oh and when you get the first pictures I am going to spread them over every social platform out there. Also when you find out the gender, you need to let me know so I can start my orders, because obviously this new baby needs to be spoiled just as much as Henry and Avery."

That finally made Emily laugh and she seemed relieved. One arm around each other the two women made their way to the door to say their goodbyes.


	20. Peek a Boo

Hi everyone, thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed and read the last part. For time reason I won't list everyone tonight, but I did read every review and truly appreciated it. This new chapter goes with 4x22 The Big Wheel. I love the episode with the little blind boy who had to go through so much. Also very end (like 42 seconds to the end) of that episode one of my beloved Demily moments, when Emily comforts Derek because he feels bad for the boy. (That just on a side note.) The chapter is a lot happier than the episode so look forward to it.

Thanks as always to Kendall. You are the best.

**Peek a boo**

"It occurs to me how close happiness and sadness are. So closely knitted together. Such a thin line, a thread-like divide that in the midst of emotions, it trembles, blurring the territory of exact opposites ... how quickly a moment of love was snapped away to a moment of hate ... Of how love and war stand upon the very same foundations. How, in my darkest moments, my most fearful times, when faced, became my bravest. When feeling at your weakest you end up showing more strength, when at your lowest are suddenly lifted above higher than you've ever been. They all border one another, the opposites, and how we can be altered. Despair can be altered by one simple smile offered by a stranger; confidence can become fear by the arrival of one uneasy presence. ... How similar emotions are."  
― Cecelia Ahern, _Thanks for the Memories_

The case in Buffalo had been hard on Derek. He had connected with the little blind boy without realizing it and suddenly felt the need to help somehow, but there simply wasn't much to do. One of the connections was to witness the loss of a parent and having to cope with it. It was hard to deal with those feelings, but he knew he had to, because his own family needed him to be with them and not to drift off in a different world. It was interesting to him how his priorities had changed over the past month and how he felt the need of caring for others now instead of pitying himself on a rather bad day.

His eyes drifted over to his girlfriend, who was supposedly driving them home, but he realized that they were nowhere close to their neighborhood.

"I've heard that pregnancy makes women forget things, but I sure hope you realize that we live on the other side of town."

Emily simply laughed. Her offer to drive had not only been because she was worried about his concentration, but for a different reason. She had noticed how involved he had gotten in this case and there had been little that she could have done about it, so she chose a different way of cheering him up. A few minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of a big complex, housing various doctors. She saw his eyes widening.

"Is something wrong with the baby?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at his unneeded worry. When the car was in park, she turned over and looked at him innocently, before stealing a kiss.

"I rescheduled and thought you would like a look at this little one."

His eyes widened and his former frustrated and tired features lightened up immediately. They had been planning on having the first big appointment with an ultrasound a few days ago, but then the Buffalo case had come up and she had to cancel the appointment. At this point, he had completely forgotten about the missed chance to meet his baby. With a wide grin on his lips, he leaned over to her side and lowered his head to the level of her belly.

"Your mommy knows how to make me happy."

"Daddy is just really easy to satisfy."

He laughed as he lifted his head and caught her lips for another kiss. He then pulled away without much thought and opened his door. He hurried around to help her, although she refused to accept it. They made their way into the building, where they had to wait for a little while. One of the nurses then guided them towards the room where the ultrasound would be performed and prepared Emily's belly. It was then that Derek realized how much it had grown over the past few weeks. He had his hand on that spot whenever he could, but having her lay there and the little belly sticking out made him realize how big it really was.

"Glad you made it after all Miss Prentiss." The doctor entered with a wide smile, first shaking Emily's than his hand. "Let's take a look then."

She went to work and only minutes later a clear picture came onto the screen. As she was already close to five months pregnant, most of the features were easy to identify with the new technology. Derek tightened his grip around her hand, while not letting his eyes leave the screen. This was technically not his first child, but it was his first child where he could be part of the whole process and she knew how important that was for him.

Although impressed by the pictures, her eyes wandered over to him and she studied him instead of the screen. The tiredness from the case was completely gone and his eyes were shining. She lifted her free hand to wipe off a tear that had escaped her eyes. Right now, the pregnancy hormones were breaking down any emotional barrier she had built over past decades.

"Would you like me to look for the gender? I can't guarantee, but we might get lucky."

Emily's eyes widened at the thought. She hadn't even considered that option yet and as curious as she was at the same time she wanted the surprise by birth. He met her gaze and she could read in his excited eyes that he wanted to know, so she nodded softly. At the end it didn't really matter if they knew or not and he needed a little bit of happiness right now.

The doctor had to make a few adjustments to the head of the machine, but finally started to smile.

"Well according to that little extra addition to the body you are having a baby boy."

"I knew it."

She laughed at his exclamation. Indeed, he had consistently talked about his son for the past few weeks, whenever the topic had come up. At least she didn't have to worry about him worrying over another little girl now and having a little boy that would be just like his dad would be a pleasure to see.

"I'm going to make a few prints, but your blood work is fine and so you are free to clean up and leave." The doctor smiled at the excited faces of the first time parents. She took a few shots and then handed them the prints with a wide smile as well as paper towel to Emily. While she struggled to get the cold gel off her body, he focused on the pictures of his son.

"Little Derek Morgan." It was a quiet whisper that was not even intended for her ears as he thought aloud, but she laughed and then raised an eyebrow in protest.

"We are not calling him Derek Morgan Junior. Forget it."

"What, why?" At least she had his attention now, so he could help her up.

"One of you is about as much as the world can take." She tucked her shirt in. It wasn't that she didn't like the name or that she didn't want her child to be named after his father, she simply had always disliked children being called 'Junior.' She wanted an identity for her baby all its own, not the mini me of his father, expected to follow in footstep with every step he was taking.

"Well then give me a better name. I know every woman has a long list of names for future children."

She blushed at the truth of his thought. Although she had never intended on having children of her own, she still had her secret list of names. Now the thing was that none of the great boy's names she had mentally marked down seemed to fit for this child.

"You don't have any middle names, right?"

He raised an eyebrow at her: "That's all you can come up with?"

"I'm trying to consider you here, without making your ego explode."

"My father's name was Michael David, if that helps."

"I like that."

"You do realize that is still a Junior?"

"But we wouldn't have to call him that, because well he is the only one alive with the name." She glanced at him sheepishly, hoping that he wouldn't take the mentioning of his father to hard.

"Okay so what about David that is going to give Rossi the ego trip."

Emily laughed, before turning to him.

"What about your father?" He then asked.

"That doesn't sound good with either Michael or David." She knew that he was trying to get more information about her father, but she didn't do him the favor. As they left the building, she got the keys out of her pocket and threw them in his direction, as she was done driving for the day.

They drove in silence for a while, but then he decided to bring the topic back up.

"Did you tell your mother?"

"She is in Europe."

"You could still tell her."

"I don't like spreading this kind of news over the phone."

He sighed, giving up on the fight he really didn't want to have. It was her decision of where and when to tell her parents, but he knew that the word would eventually spread and he preferred to tell people himself, rather than having them hear it from somewhere.

They grew quiet on the rest of the drive home, each following their own train of thoughts. Emily had started to contemplate how to fill her mother in, because she knew that Derek had a valid point. The ambassador needed to know that she was expecting her first grandchild. Her boyfriend on the other hand had very different thoughts in mind. He was rearranging the outline of his house. He had a guest room, as well as another spare room. As he wasn't sure what the situation with Louise would be, he needed to keep the bedroom for now, so that meant his son had to move into the small room that was left over.

He drove up the driveway and made his way upstairs as soon as they entered the house, leaving it to Emily to handle the excited toddler and her nanny. When she followed him up a few minutes later, she found him in the room at the end of the hall, where he seemed to stare holes into the wall.

"Louise is on her way home." She set Avery down, who immediately travelled towards where he was standing and hugged his leg.

"Daddy."

His eyes went down for the split of a second and ruffled his hand through the thick short hair, but then he put his focus back to the plans he was making inside his mind. There was really not enough room for everything a newborn would need, not even to mention when the boy would grow.

"What are you thinking about?"

Emily had stepped further into the room, noticing his distant thoughts.

"I didn't really plan this house to have a family living in it, this is too small."

She laughed, but then realized how serious he was about the situation.

"What about the extra bedroom?"

"Well when you come back to work, or my mother comes to visit or whatever we will need it."

She stepped next to him and snuck her arms around his waist. It amused her how worried he was about where to move the baby, now that he knew that it was a little boy.

"Plus, you still have an apartment full of stuff that needs to go somewhere."

"It can just stay there."

His eyes now locked with hers; shoving his other plans to the back of his head.

"You are not going to live in a different apartment, once our son is born."

She laughed. "Derek, I'm technically already living here, what I'm saying is that most of the furniture is part of the apartment, so it will just stay."

His features soften and he pulled her closer. "Well next step would be to move your stuff to the place where you are living."

"And as of the problem of your son's room, I think we can just use the other bedroom. This room is big enough for a pullout couch and we won't need Sophie during the night for the first few months."

"Are you sure?" He looked worried, which was probably because he knew how much she loved her job and that she was never planning on giving that up.

"Surprisingly yes. I want to see my kids grow up and therefore I'm going to try to do this whole stay-at-home mom thing."

His smile widened, before he pressed a loving kiss on her temple.

"What?"

He leaned down and finally obeyed to Avery's wish to be lifted up.

"You were talking in plural. Kids. You just officially called this little princess your child."

"Well Avery decided that a long time ago, so what point is there to deny?" To her own surprise, admitting this wasn't as hard as she had thought it would be. She loved Avery like her own and in her mind there was no difference between the little girl and the baby growing in her. Emily's hand moved up to caress her daughter's cheek, before glancing back at Derek with equally loving eyes.

"None." He simply replied with a smile before kissing her again and then pulling her into his free arm.


	21. Coloring

Thank you for all your kind reviews, followers and favorites. Special thanks to RandyOrtonxWifexx, paullyn6, Daisyangle, news for parrots, Nix1978, Guest and Aaliayah13.

I apologize for taking so long to post this weekend. I had this crazy test coming up and I seriously had way too much on my mind lately. The next part is here. As of the quote, well I don't know if it really fits, but I felt like using it for this chapter. Our lovely two will get a little bit more engaged in playing family.

As always thanks to Kendall for your fabulous work. Emily protesting in the first paragraph is all your fault. ;)

**Coloring**

_Twinkle, twinkle, little star,  
How I wonder what you are.  
Up above the world so high,  
Like a diamond in the sky._

-Jane Taylor

After their agreement on some more changes, Derek had been busy moving Emily's things from her old apartment to his house. It wasn't a lot to do, but he refused to let her carry anything that even looked heavy and therefore it had taken him longer than expected. Of course, she had protested through the whole process, but he had kept her busy with watching Avery and, finally she had given up on really trying, although she still voiced her independent trait. Now that she was officially living with him, she was fully engaged in the mother role, which amused him more than anything did after everything they had been through with her denying those feelings.

They had come back from their case late Friday night and had been asleep as soon as their heads had hit the pillow. Derek than had disappeared early on Saturday morning, making sure she wouldn't wake up. Emily hadn't been happy with that, but after trying his cell phone and finding it in the house, she had called Penelope and JJ to go out for breakfast. Both her friends had been more than happy in joining her and Avery.

When Derek entered the house again, he was carrying one of the heavy buckets that he had bought.

"Emily?"

Nobody answered, and when he made his way upstairs, he found that his daughter was absent too. He reached for his phone, when he realized that he had forgotten it that morning. On his way back downstairs, he grabbed it off the table and hit the speed dial that would reach her.

"Hello?" He could hear laughing in the background as well as Avery's excited babbling mixed with a few real words.

"What are you up too?"

"Having a party without you." She replied in mock attitude.

"I see." He chuckled. "Well I'm going to start my own party then."

"I thought you already did this morning."

"So that's why you disappeared without a note?" He got silence, which he took as a yes. "Well you enjoy your girls day then. Make sure Kevin and Will won't be completely bankrupt by the time you get done."

"You aren't worried about your bank account?"

"You don't have access to it."

"Well yeah, about that…" He could hear her suppressed laugh and knew she was only playing with him.

"Okay well I see you later."

"Sure will."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Although he had planned to involve both of them in his idea, he decided that it would work this way as well. He sat down the bucket in the guestroom and then began taking down the bed. It took him a while to put it into its pieces and then he started dragging it into the spare room. He didn't care much that after one room was cleared he couldn't move in the other one anymore. He was going to worry about one thing at a time.

After the to-be nursery was empty, he returned downstairs and got the rest of his supplies from his car. He had gotten three different blue colors and a huge elephant sticker for one wall. After preparing and securing the floor, he opened the first color and began applying it to the wall.

He was just starting on the third color, when he heard sounds from downstairs. Shortly after, he heard the hurried footsteps of his almost two-year-old on the stairs. She had just figured out how to handle them a few days ago and since then kept going up and down whenever the gates were opened.

"Daddy!"

He turned and caught her just in time so she wouldn't reach into the paint. He put his brush down, so that would be out of reach as well.

"What do you think? Will your brother like that color?"

"Coloring."

"Yeah, Daddy is coloring."

Her tiny fingers reached up to his face, where he had a smear of blue paint. She felt the texture and then giggled in delight.

"What's so funny?" Emily entered the room looking up from her phone as she heard the giggle. She stopped in her movement and took in the change. She hadn't known what he had been planning, but painting the room was the last thing she would have thought of.

"You like it, right?" He studied her face that so far didn't give any emotions away. She turned slightly to take in everything.

"That's impressive."

"It's just paint."

"I meant that you did all of this within the last five hours."

He raised his eyebrow at her and she smirked, knowing that her not existing response was killing him. She took the few steps over to where he stood.

"I love it."

"Yeah?"

She rolled her eyes and then got on her tiptoes to kiss him, before she moved to snuggle into his side. Derek, however, stopped her, using his free arm to point out the wet paint on him.

"Well you better hurry and get cleaned up then. Avery and I bought some stuff to put in this room."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, but he lifted their daughter into her arms, before picking the brush back up.

"I have a few more things to fix."

It took him another hour to finish his work and clean the brushes. When he came downstairs, he found both his girls laying on the couch. Avery was fast asleep in her afternoon nap, while Emily was reading her book. He kneeled down next to the armrest and looked over her head on the page. Reading a few of the lines made him realize that Emily was reading one of his books. He smiled and pressed a kiss into her dark hair.

"Want to see the finished room?"

"Want to take the sleeping beauty?"

He glanced over at his little girl, who was asleep and laying on her stomach on Emily's chest. He smiled as he discovered the head of the duck sticking out. He carefully maneuvered Avery in his arms and carried her upstairs to lay her into her own bed.

When he stepped back into the hallway, he saw his girlfriend leaning against the doorframe of their son's future room. His smile grew wider and he joined her, while wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his hands on her growing belly.

"I have to say you are talented when it comes to painting rooms."

He rolled his eyes at her, before moving her inside the room.

"I was thinking the crib should be over there that way he can see the elephant when awake."

Emily's eyes wandered to the large sticker on the main wall and chuckled. Her son would either be obsessed with elephants or be scared to death.

"Just to get this straight, we are going to have one child obsessed with ducks and one with elephants?"

"At least they won't fight over toys."

She turned in his embrace to face him with a wide smile.

"So what did you buy?"

"Well some decorations and I just might have put reservations on the furniture for this room."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's all white, so it fits your color choice." She quickly added, winding her arms around his neck. She got on her tiptoes to steal a kiss from him and then continued looking at his face, which had gotten all dreamy in thought. Derek had always wished for a family, although known as the player of the team. Growing up so close to his sisters and mother had put the wish into his heart to one day have the same relationship with his own children. Then of course, life had happened, and with the BAU as his job, he had shoved that dream far in the back of his head. That he was now standing in the room of his unborn son, with his arms around his girlfriend, while his daughter was asleep one room down the hallway, was still incredible for him. Of course, the woman in his arms was a miracle herself, if he had been asked only six months earlier if Emily Prentiss was going to end up right where she was now, he would have laughed.

"Are you still listening?" She finally asked.

He shook his head as if getting rid of a different thought and pulled her closer towards him.

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"That motherly self you have turned into."

She grunted at his wording, before getting serious again, as she realized that this wasn't the whole thought.

"This might be moving really fast, and if you are not ready than that is perfectly fine with me." His eyes had locked with hers. "Would you adopt Avery and officially be the mother she has already turned you into?"

Emily stared at him, her mouth opening in an attempt to say something, before closing again. She had been thinking about that, but him actually bringing it up in all seriousness, seemed to make everything so much more real. She would have never mentioned it, for fear of him rejecting the thought. Emily loved the little girl like her own and she wouldn't hesitate to make that official. Now, it was just that she couldn't believe this really was happening to her after all those years she had used to successfully convince herself that she would never have a family, because she didn't deserve it.

"I would love too."

Her voice was barely auditable at that point, because she had to fight her hormones on not bursting into tears. Derek smiled and carefully moved her hair behind her ear. This was so much more than what he had ever hoped for.


	22. Surprise visits

Thank you my wonderful reviewers, it's my pleasure to read you reviews and I hope this next chapter will be great for all of you. Thanks to Lena-F, paullyn6, Lenika08, Phoenix1995, Nix1978, Guest, 123a456e, RealMe07, Kay1104, dannyanne, Guest, Kaykay2018. You are all wonderful and a great reward for the work I love to do and share.

RealMe asked me if I would do a name poll. Suppose it wouldn't hurt. So what would you name Baby Morgan? Morgan will be the last name for sure. There will be a middle name. Also since I'm a girl I love name collecting, so although we know the sex already, let me know names for both genders. Have fun!

Thanks to lovelover123, for all the help and the fun conversations. Write fast. (No I'm not pressuring you at all.)

**Surprise visit**

"_A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones. "_  
― Kristin Hannah, _Summer Island_

It was a nice Saturday morning in the suburb of D.C. where Morgan's house was located. As he drove down the road back to his house, he was in the best of moods. Avery had woken him up early in the morning, so he decided to take her for a morning run so she would get some fresh air, without waking Emily up. His girlfriend would never admit it, but now that her belly was showing the pregnancy, also many other symptoms had seemed to come up, especially her constant tiredness. He tried to convince her to get some rest, to stop traveling with the team, or at least only coming every other case, but she wouldn't hear it. Even Garcia and JJ had become victim of the mood swings as they tried to support his point and Emily had correctly pointed out that the media liaison had spent half of her labor time in the BAU office. All he could do was silently make her life easier, and hope she wouldn't notice.

Therefore, after the run he had taken Avery to the market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. On his way back he had also stopped to get breakfast and as he looked now into the rear mirror, he noticed that he seemed to have worn his two year old out. Avery was peacefully sleeping in her seat, the duck secured in the seatbelt next to hers, as she had demanded him to do. He navigated his car into his driveway and abruptly hit the break to stop him from colliding with an unexpected car that was parked there.

He took a deep breath, before backing out and parking on the street. As he made his way out of the car, he saw a woman hurrying towards him, probably the car owner. He was about to start complaining when he recognized her. Derek stopped in his tracks and stared at her as she came closer.

"Agent Morgan?"

He heard in her voice that she was about as confused as he was, but returned the handshake.

"Ambassador Prentiss. Was Emily expecting you?"

"So this is her new place?"

"Yeah, she lives here." His eyes went back to the car, where their daughter was still asleep. In conversations he had brought Elizabeth up a couple of times, trying to convince Emily to let her know, but she refused and from the appearance of today's unexpected meeting she still hadn't told her a thing.

"Good, I was worried my assistant might have given me the wrong address. I just came back into the country a couple of weeks ago and was in the area, so I thought I would try my luck."

Derek raised an eyebrow. The Ambassador had been in the area? She might have been fooling her daughter, but he didn't buy it. A woman like Elizabeth Prentiss wasn't just driving through his neighborhood without a reason.

"But she doesn't seem to be home."

"She is probably still asleep."

Now it was the older woman raising eyebrows at him.

"We had a long case." He added hurryingly, but then realized that he could just stop making excuses, since she was going to find out about Avery sooner or later. Derek took a deep breath. It had never been his intention of doing this conversation for Emily, but it looked like he would have to, or at least for part of it.

"Why don't you come in?" He opened the trunk to retrieve the shopping bags, but as he balanced them all, he realized that he wouldn't be able to carry Avery. He gave the woman in his driveway a trying glance, before taking the risk: "Would you mind taking this, I have…" Nothing seemed to be the right word. "something else to carry."

Although looking confused, Elizabeth took over the bags and watched him open the side door. Her eyes widened as he carefully maneuvered the toddler, and stuffed animal in his arms and closed the door. He only made it halfway to the door, when the girl in his arms started to stir and woke up. He opened the door widely for the woman to follow him and then put the now awake child to the ground. Avery stared at the strange woman, but she must have seen the similarities to Emily in her, as she was not quite as shy as she usually was.

"I can take those from here. Why don't you have a seat in the living room? I'll get Emily for you."

Elizabeth was still wearing a perplexed look, but followed his invitation. Avery was lingering in the doorway debating whether it was safe to enter the living room to get her toys. Derek sighed, placing the bags on a kitchen counter and then hurrying upstairs. Emily was where he had expected her to be. She was sitting on the bed with sweats on, but was a lot more awake than he had anticipated.

"Hi you." He leaned in to kiss her, which she willingly accepted. One of his favorite parts about her being pregnant, she really enjoyed snuggling, which usually ended in more intense practices. He finally forced himself to step away.

"Where have you been?"

"I went for a run and then got some fruit from the market."

"Well that sounds a lot more exciting than what we have been doing. Shower, blow drying, hair straightening and then we decided we are not going through any more work until someone comes to see the work."

He smirked. She had no idea how true that wish had become.

"You didn't tell me your mother was back in town."

He saw out of the corner of his eyes how her eyes narrowed. "Do we really have to have this discussion again?"

"Honestly, I don't. But I'm afraid you won't have much of a choice." He walked over to his dresser retrieving an oversized sweater of his and threw it to Emily. "She is downstairs and the fact that I have a toddler with me and even worse a key to her daughter's house seems to have confused her just a little bit."

Emily's eyes widened with every word he spoke and she felt like something huge was stuck in her throat choking her. She had no idea when and how she had planned on telling her mother, but today in this house hadn't been on her agenda.

"She is downstairs?" She forced the words over her lips.

He nodded and then pointed to the sweater: "Put that on, I think she needs a little bit of background information before she gets the introduction to our son and no offense, but it's getting a little obvious."

Emily stared at him. He was calm as if he was talking about one their friends sitting downstairs in the living room, not her mother. She swallowed again, before getting into motion and pulling the sweater over her head. As she made her way downstairs, she pulled her hair into a ponytail. Derek followed a few steps behind her, but then headed towards the kitchen to give the women some privacy. Both of them had completely forgotten about Avery who was still in the living room.

"Mommy." She let go of the book she was showing to Elizabeth at this point and run across the room to hug Emily's legs. The woman needed a moment to respond as her eyes were fixed on her own mother, who was staring at her in disbelief.

"Mother." Emily finally pressed the word over her lips.

"Have I really been gone that long? How old is she? Two? Three?" The Ambassador got up from the couch and looked her daughter over.

"She is two, but she is not mine. Well technically she is, but I didn't give birth to her or anything."

Elizabeth now locked her eyes on her daughter, confusion all over her face.

"Avery is Derek's daughter. Her mother died a year ago." Emily's eyes widened as she realized how long the little girl had been in her life already. "Why don't you have seat."

Her mother nodded slowly before sinking back down. Her eyes wandered to Avery, who now returned to the toy box, while Emily sank on the couch as well, but keeping good distance between them.

"So you are only technically her mother and you are calling Agent Morgan Derek now?"

Emily bit on her lip, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, she let out a blow of air, before starting on her rambling again.

"Like I said her mother died and Derek was the only living relative, which he hadn't known until that point, so he had taken her in and well I ended up helping him figuring things out."

"Looks like you did more than figuring things out if the girl is calling you mommy."

"We got closer and started dating."

"And you moved in with him?"

Emily nodded slowly licking over her lips, knowing that she now had to announce the hardest part. She followed Elizabeth's glance to the toddler, who was engaged into her own little game now.

"I will also adopt Avery in a few weeks. We just haven't come around to doing the paperwork yet and well a few months after we started dating, I found out that…" Emily was desperately trying to find a less bold way of explaining these last things, but finally all that came over her lips was, "I am pregnant." The Ambassador's eyes immediately rushed back to her own daughter. "It wasn't planned or anything, actually it was quite the shock, and I was going to tell you. It's just you were in Europe and finding a time to talk to you on the phone and then explaining all of this."

Elizabeth stared at her, and then her eyes wandered through the room as if she was looking for something.

"Mother?"

"So where are you hiding this other baby?"

As complicated everything had seemed a few minutes earlier, Emily now almost started laughing.

"Oh I haven't actually had him yet." She carefully lifted the wide sweater that had done a great job in hiding the swollen belly. "He is right here. I'm not due for another few months."

Then something happened she would have never expected. Elizabeth reached over and carefully touched the baby belly.

"A boy?"

She removed her hand and as she looked back up, she caught her daughter's glance. Emily sucked in a deep breath as she saw the tears shinning in the older woman's eyes. She couldn't remember any situation before where she had seen her mother crying – one of the reason, why Emily herself had done great in hiding her feelings, before the hormonal change.

"Yes, we are thinking of naming him Michael."

"That was my grandfather's name."

Emily swallowed, as she had never thought of that, but she didn't want to blow her mother off now that she seemed to care: "Yes. It's also the name of Derek's dad."

She got a small smile, but saw how the feelings disappeared again: "Derek! Where did he go? I think I have some talking to do, after all he seemed to have fathered two grandchildren for me, without even letting me know."

"He tried. He kept telling me that I needed to tell you."

"Glad he tries to talk some sense into you, but if you are a Prentiss at all, he won't have much luck with that."

The younger woman was surprised to actually see a proud smirk on her mother's face, but then got up and walked over to the closed door that lead into the kitchen. While doing that, Elizabeth knelt down next to the toddler looking at the puzzle pieces that girl was arranging randomly and without any sense.

"Mother would like to meet you, officially."

"I heard that Emily." Derek walked over just in time to hear Elizabeth's response as well and looked worried between the two.

"Well Derek, looks like you were able to do something to my daughter that I thought was impossible."

He raised an unsure eyebrow.

"Well actually there are quite a few of those, you got her into a stable relationship. Then there is this beautiful little girl that calls her mommy and then a baby on the way. I can't believe I really was gone that long."

"My ma couldn't believe it either at first. Our job comes with instable relationships." He guided Emily back to the couch, mostly so she would sit down and get rest.

"Yeah, how are you handling staying at home, Emily?"

The couple exchanged a short glance, and the small pause caused Elizabeth to look up from where she was handing puzzle pieces to Avery.

"I'm not exactly staying home. I still go on cases and I will until the baby comes."

For the shortest moment the Ambassador looked like she was going to argue that, but then she just shook her head. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"No offense ma'am, but you did raise her to be the woman she is."

Elizabeth surprised both of them by laughing at that comment: "I'm well aware of that and you don't have to call me ma'am, Liz will work just fine. I think it's a little late to be formal, since my grandson is to be born within the next few months."

"Sure."

"So my daughter is going to adopt Avery?"

"We are working on the paperwork."

The older woman focused back on the little girl, who was waiting for the next piece. "Well I suppose you, young lady, better start calling me grandma then."

Avery stared at her with wide eyes, before abandoning the puzzle and running through the room. When she came back a couple of minutes later, she had a frame in her hands.

"Grandma." She announced proudly. Elizabeth took the picture of the Morgan family in her hands and a smile came to her lips.

"Oh I see. Looks like I need to force your mother to put up a picture of me as well, so you recognize me too."

Emily watched with amazement as her mother kept entertaining the toddler for a little longer, before the tiredness came back. After Derek had taken their daughter upstairs for her nap, the adults talked for a little longer, relieving Emily of many fears she had had before the meeting. Soon enough Elizabeth remembered another appointment and made her way to the door. Her daughter had disappeared into the kitchen to take care of the cups, so she had a moment with him alone.

"Derek?"

"Yes?" He came a little closer.

"Now I know that nothing in the world will keep my stubborn daughter from going on those cases with you, but may I have your word that you will keep her and my grandson safe?"

"Yes, of course. Believe me, I'm counting the days until he is born and she's on maternity leave."

Elizabeth gave him a small smile as her daughter joined them.

"Talking about me?"

"Actually yes." Derek's eyes widened at the answer. "I was telling Derek that I want updates, I might be busy, but grandchildren don't need appointments."

"I will be better, I promise mother."

Derek then joined her walking down the driveway, as he was planning on moving his car as soon as the ambassador was gone. When he returned back to the house he found his girlfriend looking thoughtful on the couch.

"Well that wasn't too bad."

"It was weird. I have no idea who that woman is and what she did with my mother."

"But you like it."

"I think so."

He leaned his arms on the couch behind her: "You know, I think she used to be that woman when you were young, you just can't remember it and Avery gave her an excuse to bring that part of her back out."

"I would like to think that's true." Emily answered with a small smile.


	23. One of those days

Hi Lovelies, I'm earlier with my post this week and I'm sure you will enjoy this one for various reasons. Thank you to RandyOrtonxWifexx, Lena-F, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, paullyn6, Kay1104, Lenika08, crayolakid0413, Pheonix1995, Aaliayah13, 123a456e, Guest, and Nix1978. I love to read what you think, and loved the name suggestions. Some of them are really cute. I'm glad that you liked Liz's reaction. I think although they went through a lot they do love each other.

Thanks to lovelover123 for beta reading and all the other fabulousness in you.

**One of those days**

"_Marry me, Kiara," he blurts out in front of everyone.__  
__"Why?" she asks, challenging him.__  
__"Because I love you," he says, walking up to her and bending down on one knee while he takes her hand in his, "and I want to go to sleep with you every night and wake up seein' your face every mornin', I want you to be the mother of my children, I want to fix cars with you and eat your crappy tofu tacos that you think are Mexican. I want to climb mountains with you and be challenged by you, I want to argue with you just so we can have crazy hot makeup sex. Marry me, because without you I'd be six feet under … and because I love your family like they're my own … and because you're my best friend and I want to grow old with you." He starts tearing up, and it's shocking because I've never seen him cry. "Marry me, Kiara Westford, because when I got shot the only thing I was thinkin' about was comin' back here and makin' you my wife. Say yes, chica."_  
― Simone Elkeles, _Chain Reaction_

Today was just one of those days. He had planned to leave Quantico at right at five o'clock to make his way home and leave Avery with Sophie for a little longer, surprising Emily with dinner. Little had he known that two of the cases he had been consulting on needed his full attention until long after seven. He finally had called his girlfriend, who had left earlier and told her to dress up. His mood had further sunk when she had expressed to not being in the mood of going out. The pregnancy took more of a toll on her than she would ever admit, but she couldn't hide her tiredness. Somehow, he had convinced her to come anyway, but by now, she was probably impatiently pacing the hallway.

Derek just directed his car out of the parking area of the FBI building when his phone started ringing. With a sigh, he answered it, knowing to well that she would be upset.

"I'm on way. Thirty more minutes."

"Well I don't think we can go out. Sophie got a call and she needs to leave and help her son."

"No she can't."

"I already told her to leave. She was more than sorry, but promised any other night would work just fine."

"No you don't understand any other night won't work just fine." After all, it had taken him a good month to get the reservation in with the fancy restaurant.

"Derek, it's her son. You know you or I would do the same for Avery or this little guy."

He let out a frustrated grunt.

"We can just watch a movie. I really rather not go out anyway."

"Just don't change yet. I will figure something out." With that he hung up on her. She was probably frustrated with him now, but there was no way he was giving up the reservation. His hand found another speed dial on his phone.

"Babygirl, I need a favor." He said as soon as she answered the phone.

"As much as I love you, now is not the time." Derek closed his eyes a split second as he heard Kevin's voice in the background.

"I need you to watch Avery for just a few hours."

"Oh I would love too, but Kevin set up this candlelight dinner and he got my favorite movie."

"It is really important."

"Is something wrong with Emily?"

"No, she is fine, but I really…" He stopped midsentence. "You know what, never mind."

He hung up; contemplating whom else he could ask. Finally, his thoughts ended with the only real option he could see. Anyone on the team had someone or something to do.

"This better be good Morgan." Rossi sounded anything but amused about his call.

"Can you babysit my daughter for two hours?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"And you call me? What about Garcia or JJ, someone who is crazy about children."

"They are busy. Listen Rossi this is really important. I have this reservation in 30 minutes at a fancy restaurant and I'm already running late. Can you just get to my place and take over for Emily and make sure she doesn't change into sweats?"

"A fancy restaurant huh?"

The older profiler, married and divorced three times, seemed to have caught onto what he was planning.

"Will you watch Avery or not?"

"She will be sleeping, right?"

"I hope so."

"I'll meet you there."

Derek breathed out in relief. "Thanks man."

When he finally reached home, his tight schedule had become even tighter. He hurried a confused Emily out into the car and drove off before she could even attempt to question Rossi as a babysitter. By the time he reached the restaurant, they were five minutes late, which was still good considering that he had done the 15 minute drive in ten, but the place was too busy to wait for him.

"What do you mean the table is taken?"

"Sir, I'm afraid we give tables up after five minutes. We need to meet our capacities."

"But I reserved it a month ago."

"I'm sorry Sir; would you like to make another reservation?"

"Well I suppose we can wait for the next table to open up."

"Oh, I'm afraid there won't be any openings tonight. Maybe in two weeks."

Derek stared at the greeter in confusion. What was that guy talking about? He had waited for so long to get that table and only Elizabeth making a call had gotten him in today.

"Derek, it's okay. Let's just leave." He felt her hand touching his back, but he wasn't ready to give up yet.

"I see a free table right over there."

"I'm afraid that one is reserved."

"And they are not over the five minutes yet?"

The waiter opened his mouth to respond, but Emily pushed between the two. With a firm grip, she turned her boyfriend towards the door and gave him a small push.

"I apologize." She could feel Derek stiffen, ready to protest, but she pushed him outside. As the door closed behind him, she turned with a wide smile. "I'm sure Ambassador Prentiss will take some other restaurants into consideration for her next Christmas dinner, now that her daughter wasn't able to eat here anymore."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the manager come closer.

"Miss Prentiss, I haven't seen you in a long time."

She raised an eyebrow at the young man sinking behind the desk and started to feel sorry for him. All she could do was to hope that he hadn't been in any trouble before, or he might lose his job now.

"Well I'm positive this will be the last time too. I heard the Vidalia had been trying for years to perform the Christmas dinner for my mother."

"Miss Prentiss, I'm sure we can find a table for you." The manager glared at the other man, who hurriedly started typing on the computer.

"No need." She gave him her sweetest smile. "We were leaving anyway."

Emily then left. She breathed out in relief as the parking lot greeted her with quietness. She made her way through the parked cars back to theirs. Her eyebrow rose up, when she saw him kick the car in frustration.

"Now you, what's the deal?"

He glared over to where she was standing. The fact that she was wearing an almost amused smile didn't smooth his mood either. A few days ago, he had everything figured out so perfectly.

"_So you are really doing this."_

"_Should I be offended by your surprised tone, Ma?"_

_He could hear her chuckle and smiled as well._

"_There is just not a lot of the old Derek left, if you ask me. Of course the good parts are still there, but the changing women and the refusal of giving me grandchildren, it's just gone."_

"_So you should be happy."_

"_I am happy, baby. So when are you going to ask her?"_

"_Thursday night. Her mother helped me get a reservation in this high-class restaurant and I will pick up the ring later today."_

"_You better hide that one well. Women have a talent of finding things they aren't supposed to find."_

"_No worries. So, the plan is to take her to this nice garden that is lit up with lights at night after dinner and ask her."_

"_Oh I wish I could be there."_

_Derek raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't respond and focused on parking the car in front of the house._

"_Well I'm home now and since I want this to stay a secret I will have to hang up."_

That had been the plan. Now three days later, nothing was left. The dinner had never happened, they both were frustrated, and as he just had discovered there wasn't even a point of going to the garden, since the ring was still hidden in the house.

Emily came closer and carefully took his hands to place on her swollen belly. Their son was a very active kicker and she hoped that for once the pain would also bring something good with it. Indeed, she watched Derek's features soften and now almost grow sad.

"So are you going to take me out for dinner, or what?"

"I…, we were supposed to have dinner in there." He shot a frustrated look towards the building.

"Never liked it there anyway." He opened his mouth in surprise. "I mean the food is great, but you have to act like the queen and use perfect table manners like her."

"But I thought it was your favorite?"

"Who told you that?"

He was about to respond when a smile came to his face and he shook his head. A few months ago, when the idea had come to his head, he had decided that he wanted to do at least one thing traditional and had called Elizabeth to inform her of his plans. The woman hadn't only been thrilled but also offered to help. Thinking back, he should have known that the ambassador wasn't the best person to ask about her daughter's likings.

"How about Chinese?"

"Now we are speaking the same language." She smiled at him, before getting on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Remind me to call my mother."

"Why?"

"Oh she needs to make some adjustments to Christmas dinner." He raised an eyebrow as he saw her wicked smirk, but she was already on her way around the car. When finally arriving at the Chinese place they had a nice dinner after all, although Derek was still dwelling on all the things that had gone wrong. An hour later, he guided her out of the place and was considering making a short stop at home to get the ring and take her to the garden after all, but he crossed off that plan when he saw the heavy begin rain pouring down in front of the doors.

He let out a heavy sigh. "I'll get the car."

Emily's eyes followed him, well aware of how frustrated he was. She just had no idea what had gone so wrong. Hopefully coming home and seeing Avery would calm him down a little bit. Her eyes widened when he let out a frustrated swear and jogged back to the building. Just as he opened the door, she realized that she still had the keys in her purse.

"I'm so sorry." She had a hard time holding the laughter back. He was wet to the bones from only the short run. Derek glared at her, well aware of the smirk, and left again. This really wasn't his day. When they reached home, he told her to stay in the car, with the excuse that he wanted to get a coat for her, so she didn't get sick. She didn't agree, but preferred to not further upset him. Inside he took a moment to tell Rossi that he hadn't asked the question and that the older agent would do well in not bringing it up to her.

When Emily was inside, he excused himself to go upstairs and change. The woman stayed on the first floor watching her friend put on his own coat.

"How was dinner?"

"A catastrophe. We ended up having Chinese, and I might have gotten some poor soul fired."

Rossi raised an eyebrow at her.

"Long story, I'll explain it after I have this one," she pointed at her belly, "over a glass of your best wine." She smiled at him, before hugging him goodbye.

Emily then decided that it was time for sweatpants, and followed her boyfriend upstairs. She found him in their bed staring at the replay of a football game on the small TV. She smirked, and then went into the bathroom to change. She was about to brush her teeth when she realized the toothpaste was empty. With a sigh, she bent down and reached for a new pack in the back of the drawer. Her hand stopped as she grabbed the soft outside of a small jewel box. She pulled it out. It had the shape that usually contained rings.

Her eyes widened and suddenly his stressed state made a lot more sense. A small smile wandered to her face, before she continued getting ready for bed. Emily then grabbed the small box and made her way to bed. She followed the game for a few minutes, but finally she couldn't hold back anymore.

"You know, you don't have to impress me with a fancy restaurant."

"Wasn't planning on it." She could hear in Derek's voice that he was still upset.

"And if you ever need to ask me something, you can just do it."

"What would I ask you?" At least she had his attention now, as he turned the TV off, to turn towards her.

"Oh you know questions that have to do with jewelry." She casually placed the ring box in his lap, before snuggling into her pillows.

"How did you find that?"

"I was out of toothpaste."

His mouth opened and closed it again, leaving her with another smirk. His mother's words came back to him and he shook his head. Derek carefully opened the little box and stared at the ring.

"So how was tonight supposed to go, if nothing had gone wrong?" Emily had her eyes closed, but she felt his movement, so she assumed he was looking at her. She carefully placed her hand on her belly massaging a much kicked spot.

"Well we would have had an expensive dinner that I would have had to pay off for the next three months. Then I would have taken you to a park where they have a wonderful garden that's all lit up at night. I would have taken you to the pavilion and fallen to my knees to ask you, if you will marry me."

She smiled with her eyes still closed.

"What would you have answered?"

Emily opened her eyes, feeling him leaning in closer.

"It depends."

"On what?" He was about to move away again, when she caught him with her arms around his neck.

"Are we still speaking hypothetically or will you actually ask?"

Derek saw her smirk. He carefully leaned down next to her, pulling Emily tightly into his arms, before whispering in her ear.

"Emily, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

He loosened his hug far enough so he could face her. Then his hands started searching for the small box on the bed. When he found it, he opened it up and took the ring out to place on her hand.

"That's pretty." She had moved her hand up so she could see it. The ring was slender with a stone at the center framed with smaller diamonds.

"You didn't look at it?"

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise."

"You truly are a nerd."

She slapped her hand against his shoulder. "Do you want me to change my mind?"

He laughed: "You wouldn't." Before she could protest, he pulled her closer and sealed her lips with his own.


	24. Baby Shower and other Surprises

Hello my beautiful readers. Thank you so much to everyone who has written a review or marked the story as their favorite within the last week. Especially thanks to Lumos-MischiefManaged-Nox, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, jhplug, Lena-F, Lenika08, Pheonix1995, paullyn, CrimeFan23, and 123a456e. You are all fabulous. As a remark towards the feedback, there is some Avery in this one, but not much and I promise I will make up for it later on.

Thanks to lovelover123 for reviewing and sticking with me. Happy almost Sunday.

**Baby shower and other surprises**

"_Siblings that say they never fight are most definitely hiding something"_  
― Lemony Snicket, _Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid_

It was the middle of August now and Emily was seated in a chair in the air-conditioned living room. It was only a couple of days after Derek's attempted perfect engagement date, which meant she was yet to share the news. Her eyes wandered to the perfect ring on her finger. She still had a couple of calm minutes, before her friends would storm the room. Garcia had insisted on throwing a baby shower for her, although they already had bought most of the important things.

"I'm going to leave now." While saying that he ushered his daughter into the room. "Are you sure you want to keep her here?"

"Penelope will kill me if Avery is not around."

"True." He smirked, while his eyes went over the decorations they had set up, while the couple had done their morning shopping. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will." Her tone was annoyed, which made his grin wider, before he leaned in to kiss her. "Have I ever told you that you are hot, when you are annoyed?"

"I doubt that I'm hot under any circumstances right now. If anything I'm fat."

Derek couldn't help himself from rolling his eyes, which of course she saw. He crouched down in front of her chair.

"Well, let me tell you, there is something hot about being 'fat' because you are carrying our son around with you."

"Whatever."

He smirked and then leaned in for another kiss, before lowering his head and pressing a kiss on her belly.

"Your mommy is the most beautiful woman out there, just so you know. Don't listen to her; she doesn't know what she is talking about."

Although still sure that she was anything but attractive right now, she couldn't help herself but smile. Her hands moved to the back of his head and caressed it softly. When he looked up again she leaned in to steal another kiss.

"Have fun with the guys." She then said, as he was going to hang out with the male half of the team, while Emily had her own little party.

"I will and you don't party too hard." After stealing another kiss, he made his way to the door, just in time for the excited knock.

"I'm not even here, just ignore me." He maneuvered his way by his coworkers.

"I was planning on it." Garcia announced loudly, before giving him a quick smile and then hurrying inside. The tech set down two huge boxes with food, before cornering Emily on her chair. "How do you like the decorations? JJ was afraid it was too much."

"I love it." It was too much, but Emily would rather bite her tongue off than admit that. Her eyes widened as JJ entered with more food boxes. "I didn't know I had that many friends."

"You would be surprised." Penelope smiled and positioned herself in front of her pregnant friend. "But before we get to business, I need a hug."

Emily sighed and it took her a moment to get out of the comfortable position. She shifted slightly to make enough room for her and the baby belly and then hugged her close friend. While at the beginning of her pregnancy, she had had a hard time believing that there was really a whole child within her, by now she had no doubt left. Her son was growing fast and strong and Emily kind of hoped that he would be born early.

Pen let go of her and hurried over to the boxes to start opening them up.

"You sure you aren't due yet?" JJ's eyes had taken in the baby belly.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry Em, I just don't remember being so huge. Not that you are any bigger than I was, it just feels so unnatural now."

"_You_ are feeling unnatural?"

JJ laughed: "I'm sorry Em." She finally stepped forward and pulled her friend into another hug. The two women had had more than one pregnancy discussion over the past few months and already planned play dates for Henry and the unborn boy. When they released each other, JJ grabbed her friend's hand to drag her to the table where Penelope was setting up the food. She was about to start explaining the food, when she realized what her hand had just touched and pulled up Em's hand.

"Garcia, do you see what I see?" She now put the ring under closer inspection.

"That's a ring, and it's not a birthstone, right?" Penelope's eyes set on Emily, who shook her head with a small smile.

"Why didn't I know about this?"

"He just asked me two days ago and I haven't seen you since then."

Garcia opened her mouth but then closed it again and left the speaking to JJ: "The thing is, when your boyfriend asks you to marry him and you wear his ring, you call your best friends first thing the next morning."

"And you have the right to tell me that, because you kept Will a secret, for only what a year?" Em gave back. JJ opened her mouth, but closed it again.

"Emily has a point." Penelope answered, earning herself a 'You are no help' look. "Nevertheless, you should have told us. He should have told me."

"It really wasn't his day, so don't put that on him."

"What do you mean?" The food was officially forgotten, as the women sank into the kitchen chairs.

"Well he had planned to take me out for this fancy dinner and then pull the romantic card in this park."

"That's my chocolate thunder." Emily rolled her eyes at that comment, before continuing.

"Only that chocolate thunder's plans didn't work out. I was in a bad mood in the first place and wanted to stay home, and then Sophie canceled on him."

"Oh no, he called me, but Kevin had dinner set up." Garcia looked like Christmas had been canceled.

"Don't worry, Rossi was kind enough to do him the favor."

"Rossi?" Both blondes stared at her in surprise.

"I have no idea what Derek paid him, but he showed up and basically shooed me out of my own front door to go and have fun. Only that we were too late and the restaurant had canceled the reservation."

"What?" Garcia was sucking in the story as if her life depended on it, while JJ just sat and listened with a smile.

"That was about the same time, when he remembered that he forgot the ring here. I still had no clue what was going on so I forced him to buy me some Chinese food. I think he was considering still taking me to the park, but when we were done eating, it had started raining." A grin came to her lips when she remembered him coming back, soaking wet, to get the keys.

"So we came home and he went straight to bed."

"That's it?" Penelope stared at her.

"Of course not, she isn't engaged yet," JJ smirked at her friend to continue.

"Well I thought the night was over, I had my dinner, he was upset and grouchy, so I went to brush my teeth, and while looking for toothpaste happened to find the ring."

"You did not?" JJ laughed.

"So I told him that he didn't need to impress me and should just ask the question and he did."

Emily smirked before getting back up from her chair and waddling more than walking over to the table to start spreading the intense amount of food.

"That's for sure a story to tell your grandchildren." JJ smiled and then followed her to the table with Garcia close behind; until the guests arrived, the ladies had fun planning the wedding. Of course, Em had hurried to tell them that they would wait until the baby was old enough to carry the rings, but that didn't stop any of them from planning the dresses and cake accessories.

An hour later, the first guests arrived. To Emily's surprise there were a couple of trainees she had worked with over the last few weeks, as well as Jordan and some other colleagues from different departments. She was about to start the party when the doorbell went off again. As she opened the door, she couldn't stop her mouth from opening in surprise. She had invited Elizabeth, feeling that it might be a step in the right direction, but almost expecting that she wouldn't fit into her mother's tight schedule.

"Don't look so surprised. Why would I miss my only daughter's baby shower?"

"I don't know." In fact, Emily could think of a million reasons, especially since Liz had missed countless events in her daughter's life, without thinking twice about it.

"Well, I apologize for being late, but I had to pick up your surprise." The older woman stepped to the side and three other women came into Emily's view: The Morgan's.

"Hello dear." Emily stepped forward to hug Fran, and her future sister-in-laws and then swallowed at the realization. She stepped out in the heat and carefully pulled the door closed behind herself.

"We were trying to call you, but I thought you were avoiding us." Em nervously licked over her lips.

"You two are profilers; you would have smelled that something was off." Sarah declared.

"Well yeah, but if you had answered our calls, we could have told you that Derek proposed to me." Emily wasn't so worried about the mothers, because she knew by now that both of them had been involved in the planning, but she was worried about Sarah and Desi. To her relief there was no reason to worry, both sisters hugged her.

"I'm not sure what surprises me more, my brother proposing, or you being brave enough to say yes." Sarah declared while inspecting the ring on Emily's finger.

"Sarah, be nice."

"What it's true."

The women laughed. Emily than reopened the door to escape back into the cool. 90 degrees Fahrenheit and her pregnancy didn't mix well.

"It's just still new, only JJ and Penelope know."

"Well everyone else must be blind not to see that rock." Sarah threw in, while putting her luggage down.

"Or they are trying to be polite." Desi corrected, before wrapping one arm around her new sister. "So now on to the important business, where is my niece?"

Emily laughed and pointed towards the living room: "Probably entertaining everyone."

The shower was a big success, but finally everyone but the Morgans and Elizabeth gave their goodbyes. Emily herself sank on the couch, tired from the fun but long day. She loved having all her friends and family around, but being close to the end of the pregnancy didn't leave much energy.

"Em?" She heard the door shut, but was too tired to think much about it.

"In the living room."

"Will and Kevin got calls from their girls, so I assumed it would be safe to come back." He stepped into the living room.

"Surprise."

Emily lifted her head, smiling as she saw the Morgan sisters hugging their perplexed brother.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well we were informed there was a baby shower for our nephew, plus you have been keeping our niece from us for too long." His younger sister informed him.

"Well on that, turns out grandmas are not good in sharing." Sarah added with a smirk. Avery was asleep on Fran's lap, after playing for the last hours with either one of her grandmas. Derek smirked, before squeezing both of his sisters and then walking to the couch, where his tired fiancée tried to make a little room.

"So how did you get here and where are you staying?"

"I thought it would be a neat surprise." Elizabeth offered: "And they can either stay at my home or I can provide hotel rooms, whichever you prefer."

"We can just stay here." Desi announced excitedly, missing how both her brother's and Emily's face fell.

"We would like to take you up on that offer Elizabeth, staying at your home should be just fine. I will make sure those two behave." She gave her daughters a pointed look, like they were still twelve years old.

"But we came all the way."

"And there is nothing worse than having the house crowded with family, especially a few weeks before a new baby arrives." Fran pointed out and got an agreeing nod from Liz. "I have been there. They need their space and you would know that if you were starting to follow your brother's example. Three children and only one of them seems to be capable of starting a family and giving me some sweet grandbabies."

"Score." The word slipped over Derek's lips before he could stop himself.

"Oh come on baby brother, you were always her favorite." Sarah was unimpressed.

"Not true."

Emily opened her eyes as the discussion grew more heated. She watched them until they stopped in laughter. She then groaned and forced herself to sit up.

"What's wrong?" His concerned eyes were almost immediately on her.

"Nothing. Well I guess I just realized what I signed up for. Two children with your genes, I'm going to have this teasing and yelling 24/7 for the next eighteen years."

Fran smiled into her direction: "More like the rest of your life. They never stop, and it's worth it."

* * *

PS. The baby is only one chapter away, so for the special occasion a special offer: If I get 15 reviews before Friday, you get the chapter once there are 15 reviews, if not you get it Friday or Saturday as usual.


	25. New Perspective

Wow, I'm seriously impressed by the speed of the reviews. It hasn't even been a full 24hours since the last chapter, but I promised and here it is. You actually hit the 15 this morning, but church was calling my name. Thank you all so much for reading the last one. Special thanks to Lena-F (sorry it won't be your name, and you will see way :D), Gabby, Lexis4MorganPrentiss(whats your first language, just curious), Tamara, Kaykay2018, paullyn6, Kay1104, RandyOrtonxWifexx, Aaliayah13 (welcome back, missed you on my last list), Lenika08, PrentissObessed, howimetyourcriminalmind, pheonix1995, Daisyangle, CrimeFan23, Samantha, tashak, and crazykelly101.

This part has a little twist to it, but the baby will arrive and there is lots of baby talking, not so much Avery, but I figured the baby would make up for a little bit of it. In addition, there will be lots of team involvement; especially Penelope and Dave get their moments. Happy Sunday!

And my lovelover I added a little duck for you. Enjoy!

**New Perspective**

"_What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms . . . or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."_  
― George R.R. Martin, _A Game of Thrones_

Emily closed her eyes. Sweat was running down her forehead and everything seemed to hurt. She shot an annoyed glance to her fiancé, who reminded her again that one more push might be the end of her misery, while holding her hand. She was tempted to tell him that he could try to be in labor for a change, but a new wave of pain kept her from doing it.

Indeed, after this last push the pain seemed to disappear. She closed her eyes and a small smile came to her lips as the scream of her newborn baby boy was heard in the room. Derek gave an excited squeeze to her hand. She had actually done it. She had survived a pregnancy in the BAU and with a toddler, who she had adopted, at home. She had survived the necessary move, faced her mother even before the birth, and had somehow secured an engagement. With all the events within the last year, raising this little boy couldn't be hard at all.

"Congratulations. She is a healthy little girl."

"What?" Both Derek and her exclaimed and Emily opened her eyes. Not that it really mattered to her, but she had been expecting a little boy. The room was painted in blue, the baby clothes were all in blue, the name for her little boy was picked, and most importantly, Derek had been so happy to finally have some male company.

"The red will disappear within the next few days and we are going to clean her up some more, after you've had your first little hello."

Then suddenly the little bundle was placed in her arms and she found herself face to face with her daughter. It was clearly their daughter though. The skin was the same color as Avery's – a little lighter than Derek's, but not quite as white as Emily's – and she had Emily's dark brown eyes and the thin layer of hair was dark like her parents.

"Well…" She couldn't resist to partly lift the blanket, but she was definitely holding a little girl in her arms. "Looks like you tricked us." The pain from a few minutes earlier was forgotten and the little girl in her arms more than made up for it. Her eyes filled with tears as she inspected the little features of her face slowly discovering the perfect mix of her eyes and his nose.

Emily looked up as his hand appeared next to the little girl gently caressing the flushed cheek. She almost expected disappointment, but he looked simply happy and more importantly proud. As she caught his glance, she even saw tears collecting in his eyes. Their moment ended to soon as one of the nurses appeared next to the bed, holding a writing board with paperwork clipped on.

"Do you know yet what you want to name her?"

"Definitely not Michael," was her dry response to the nurse's questions.

"Or David for that matter." Derek smirked at her and then planted a soft kiss on her lips. "You can choose her first name and I will handle the middle."

Her eyes widened.

"What? You are the woman, so you have the name list in mind, we already had this discussion," he chuckled at her perplexed face. They both watched as the nurse took the little girl to clean her up. It seemed still unreal to her that this was her daughter. Not just because it was supposed to be her son, but also simply because she hadn't ever expected to have that privilege.

"What is the middle name going to be?"

"I'll decide that when the first name is fixed."

He could see in her face that she didn't like that answer at all and it wasn't exactly the truth. He had a pretty good idea of what the middle name was going to be, but she would find that out soon enough. Only a few minutes later their little girl was all cleaned up, and cuddled into her pink blanket. The nurse was about to hand her back to Emily, but she just shook her head.

"Daddy's turn."

She saw his eyes widen as the bundle was placed in his arms. For a few moments, he stared at the little girl in pure awe and didn't make a single move. He was too afraid to hurt her or even worse let her fall. Yes, he already had a daughter and he knew it wasn't as easy to break them as he feared right now, but at the same time he had never seen Avery in this stage.

"Do you think Avery looked like this?"

Emily saw the tears collect in his eyes again and swallowed to prevent herself from crying.

"They do share half of their gene pool, and they kind of look alike."

She saw his smile widen as he carefully freed one of his hands and then began to trace the features of the little face. When he traced the soft lips, they opened wide enough to suck in his finger. He chuckled and then lifted her into Emily's arms.

"She is ready for dinner."

One of the nurses hurried over to assist Emily in this first experience and a few moments later the baby was happily sucking. The new mother watched how Derek left the bed and began dialing numbers. Everyone had been informed that she had gone into labor, only that had been twelve hours ago. She heard him share the news that the baby was healthy and hungry.

Her eyes shifted back to her daughter. It was as if all her baby names didn't fit her. None of them seemed special enough for this little life. Only one name came back to her mind again, and again. She had never even had it on any list, but it was almost as the name was associated with the little girl.

Derek returned to her side and now focused on her. His hand gently wiped the wet hair from her face and then caressed her cheek, before moving in to kiss her.

"I love you so much, Emily."

"I love you too." She answered with a wide smile, before looking back down to their baby, who seemed to have finished her meal for now. "Looks like Emma is done with her first dinner."

He raised an eyebrow at the use of the name.

"Would you?" She carefully lifted the girl into his arms, to be able to maneuver her gown back on, before looking from him to the baby and back. "Are you okay with Emma?"

"She kind of looks like an Emma. Only problem is that Avery is going to call her Emi." He hinted towards the nickname their two-year old used to call Emily by.

"I don't see the problem."

He gave her a meaningful look, but when their eyes connected, he saw her mocking attitude about the issue and that she was not concerned at all.

"Well I assume she'll call you mommy anyway, so it doesn't matter right?"

"Correct."

She smirked. "Speaking of which, when is Emma going to meet her big sister?"

"They are on their way and I'm afraid my sisters are willing to go over their credit limit to fly back in as well."

"Send them a picture."

"I'll try." He smiled. "The team is on their way as well, which brings me to a different question. Who are we going to make Emma's godparents?"

He was surprised when he saw her blushing and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well for this I actually don't have to think."

"So?"

"I would like Rossi to be her Godfather."

Derek smiled at the mentioning of their older colleague, "I think he will like that."

"Well and if he doesn't he will have to learn to live with it."

"Is it bad if I ask Penelope? I mean she was just made Henry's godmother a year ago and we could easily ask JJ, it's just…"

"…she is your best friend. I'm fine with it. We just need to be aware that with Rossi and Garcia, Emma is going to be one spoiled child."

"Don't forget the excited grandmothers and aunts, but on the bright side less toys for us to buy."

A few minutes later the team arrived, followed shortly after by Fran and Avery. Elizabeth was out of town for a meeting, but already had requested pictures and booked an early flight back. It was already late so Avery wasn't very pleasant, pressing her duck to her chest, until she made out her parents in the small crowd. Tired from her day she fell asleep at Emily's side while the adults were still talking. Her grandmother, therefore, decided to take her home.

With little Emma safely dozing in her mother's arms, Derek wrapped an arm around Penelope and guided her out of the room down the long hallway.

"You don't have to say yes to this, if you can't afford it." He gave her a playful glance. "But we would like you to be Emma's fairy godmother."

Her eyes widened and for a moment he was afraid they would pop out of her face. She then jumped and threw her arms around him.

"I would love to. Two little girls to spoil and Henry, oh you better not leave me alone during Christmas season."

He laughed, as he had expected that much and returned her hug. As they turned to get back to the room, they saw most of the team exit.

As the team started to leave Emily's eyes set on Rossi. Thankfully, he was the last to leave, so she got her chance.

"Dave, do you have a moment?"

"Sure." He turned closing the door behind his colleagues.

"I, I mean, we would like you to be Emma's godfather." She couldn't believe how nervous these words made her.

"Me?" He seemed honestly surprised by their decision, but she was sure that she saw pride coming to his face.

"Well she needs someone with a little bit of common sense in her life and…" while the first part of her sentence was meant to be a joke, she got more serious now, "the day I found out that I was pregnant was after we solved the Matthew case." She swallowed. "It meant a lot to me that you took the time to listen to me that day."

He smiled widely, before stepping back towards her bed. "You are welcome Emily. Now I will accept your offer under one condition."

The new mother raised her eyebrow.

"I want to hold the little bambina."

Moments later the baby was secure in the arms of her new uncle, not caring to much about what was going on around them.

"And as her godfather I need to know her full name."

"It's Emma…" Emily stopped as she hadn't heard her middle name yet.

"Emma Elizabeth Morgan." Derek's voice sounded from the door.

* * *

I hope I didn't disappoint to many of you with Emma, as of the likeliness of this happening. My cousin had a little girl 1.5 years ago, after expecting a boy for the whole time. So it is possible. :)


	26. I can't

Hi my fellow Demily lovers. Thanks so much for all the reviews in honor of little Emma's birth. I'm glad there you liked my little twist. Thanks especially to howimetyourcriminalmind, Kaykay2018, Lenika08, paullyn6, Kay1104, CrimeFan23, Pheonix1995, TheMysteriousGeek2345, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, MorganLover, Daisyangel, tashak, RandyOrtonxWifexx, jhplug, Tamara, Kara Amira Almindez, 123a456e, SSA OPHY, and Guest. It is wonderful to read so many reviews and hear your input. There are a few more chapters, with up and downs for the new family, but I'm working on a sequel so it will not be the end.

Happy Saturday lovelover123, and thanks for the fantastic 3 reviews you left me. I put a bunch of things in here that you suggested.

**I can't**

"_Real mothers don't just listen with humble embarrassment to the elderly lady who offers unsolicited advice in the checkout line when a child is throwing a tantrum. We take the child, dump him in the lady's cart, and say, "Great. Maybe you can do a better job."___

_Real mothers know that it's okay to eat cold pizza for breakfast.___

_Real mothers admit it is easier to fail at this job than to succeed."_  
― Jodi Picoult, _House Rules_

When Derek came home, he found a disaster. He had left for a long case in San Francisco six days ago. The circumstances had only allowed him a few text messages, but he had no idea how things were really going for her. In addition, he felt miserable, because with Hotch being on his heels he hadn't even worried about it. Emma was three weeks old now and even he had to admit that he would think twice on getting his fiancé pregnant again, because the lack of sleep from a crying baby added to the sleepless cases might kill him at some point.

His eyes wandered over the toys that were spread all over the hallway and every other room he caught a glimpse into. He set down his go-bag and started to collect the various possessions of his oldest daughter. They had set up a box of toys for her in the living room, which he found empty, when he opened it up to put his collection in. He continued picking up the toys, until the box was full and the floor was clean again. When he entered the kitchen, he found the next disaster. He was sure that if he opened the cupboard he would not find any clean plates. By now, his tiredness was forgotten and he became worried. It was not like Emily to leave such a chaotic state to the house and that he hadn't spoken to her in days only made him feel worse. He emptied out the dishwasher and loaded it back up, which left only a little part of the mess. After starting the machine, he left the room deciding to clean it up in the morning and made his way up to the bedrooms.

Emma's room, now painted in various pink and yellow hints, was dark and he couldn't make out the baby in her crib, so he assumed she would be with Emily. He was only glancing into his older daughter's room as part of his routine, but stopped in surprise when he made out the small figure in the middle of the cushions that were piled up in one corner for her to cuddle. He turned on the light and walked over. She was wearing pajamas, but they seemed to have seen a least one meal, if he identified the stains correctly it was likely more than one. He lifted the little girl with ease and placed her on the changing table. Grabbing fresh clothes for her, he quickly changed her and got her into her bed.

He then turned off the light and closed the door behind himself, before making his way into the master bedroom. Emily and their little girl were fast asleep, so he decided to get bed ready himself and not bother them while they were actually having some of the rare sleep. He was about to turn off the bathroom light and move back into the bedroom, when he heard the quiet cry of the baby, followed by Emily's groan.

He stood quietly listening to the interaction, while the crying slowly turned louder. He could still hear her talking, but he was not able to understand what she was saying to the baby. Since both of them were awake now he didn't worry about the light anymore and walked out of the bathroom to join them. He stopped when he saw Emily jump at his sudden appearance and his eyes widened when her tired eyes met his just long enough for him to make out the tears, before she looked away.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't answer so he had nothing to do but watch her trying to calm down the crying baby. When the tears started flowing down her cheeks, he walked over and carefully removed Emma from her arms. At first, she seemed to refuse to let go, but she didn't have the strength to fight him for long. He carefully balanced the crying baby in one arm, while trying to put his other arm around Emily. To his surprise, she brushed him off and disappeared into the bathroom.

He stared after her, but then concentrated on the crying infant. When he started to pace around with her, she calmed down a little and finally settled into an uneasy sleep. He kept walking for a little longer to ensure that she was really asleep and then placed her in the bassinet besides the bed.

His main concern was on his girlfriend's behavior. The condition of the house, Avery sleeping on her cushions and now the tears over the crying baby indicated that her week had been as rough as his hunt for a serial killer. Glancing over to Emma a last time he opened the door to the bathroom only to find her sitting on the floor with her head buried in her arms that she was resting on her knees.

Derek sat down next to her and carefully tried to place his arm around her, but again she shrugged it off. He stared at her blankly, but before he could ask anything, she provided him with all the answers he needed.

"I'm a horrible mother."

His eyebrow rose up, as the realization, of what she had talked herself into within the last five days washed over him. He couldn't help himself but sigh, before moving closer and pulling her into his arms. She was struggling, but as he didn't let go, she finally gave up and sank against his chest. Her sobs seemed to become heavier as she was able to let go of the stress of the last days.

"You are not." His voice was firm and he knew she had heard him, as he had waited for her crying to calm down. At his words, her head jerked up and her tired eyes seemed to be full of energy for a tiny moment as she needed to convince him that she indeed was.

"No, you don't understand. I have no idea what she wants, I can't get her to calm down, I don't have time to take care of Avery, and everyone who said that I would make a great mother is just wrong."

She tried to stare him down, but eventually gave up, since she was too tired to win any fight at this point. Her head fell back against his shoulder and new tears began to travel down her cheeks. They sat in silence for a while, as he wanted to give her the chance of calming down a little more, so he would have a chance to reason with her. After a long time her labored breathing seemed to stabilize into calm and he carefully began to speak.

"About a year ago, I brought Avery home for the first time. They had me play with her in the orphanage. Showed me how to change her diaper, how to give her a proper bath. They gave me a list of what she seemed to like to eat, and another one with healthy food that I should make her eat. They checked my house to make sure that it had a room for her to sleep in and my background to make sure that I wouldn't try to kill her. They told me that it might be rough the first few days, but it would get better and then we were alone."

He sighed and leaned against the bathtub behind him, remembering the first, impossible long nights with his little girl. Avery hadn't slept, unless she was too exhausted to stay awake and had woken up every few hours because she refused to eat and was hungry.

Emily's head moved up and she stared at some point of his face now, to get him talking again, but she still refused to look him in the eyes.

"They didn't tell me that she would fight me with all she could. They didn't train me on how to explain why mommy wasn't there and they didn't explain to me how to figure out what to do when she was crying. The first night I would try food and diapers every time she cried. I would let her sleep in my bed, or in hers, I had her walking around in the room crying for her mommy and in all honesty I might have slept through one or two of her hysterics, because I was so exhausted."

His hand caught one of her long, brown curls and began playing with it. "The night you showed up on my doorstep with that beer, I had been considering taking her back to the orphanage and telling them that anything would be better for her than having to stay with me."

"But you are a great father." Her voice was weak and tired, but it had lost the aggressive tone she had had earlier in an attempt of defending herself.

"I learned Emily. I learned to read her and her actions. I realized that her facial expression would be slightly different whenever she needed a diaper change and her voice would sound a little more demanding when she was hungry. In all honesty, maybe I just imagined all of it."

"But Emma always sounds the same."

"That's what I had convinced myself to think by the time you met Avery and then you walked into her nursery and took her hand and she was quiet. I still don't know how you knew she was hungry or how you got her to eat, but you knew what to do. When we were at the park and she fell, she didn't want grandma or me, she wanted you, and I'd like to believe that you had her calmed down a lot faster than either of us could and distracted her with those ducks."

He loosened his embrace and turned her. His hand cupped her face and he directed it so she finally had to look him in the eye.

"Somewhere in there you have your mother instinct, I know that. We just need to find out how to get it out and working again. There is no reason to be afraid, because I'm pretty sure every parent is freaked out at the beginning and it wasn't fair of me to leave you here with the girls for almost a week."

"That's the job."

He nodded slightly, before he got up and pulled her behind him.

"I like this job better, and you need some sleep."

They laid down, her nestled closely in his side, Emma sleeping peacefully in her bassinet, by now in a deep sleep.

"Did you give her a sleeping potion?" Her tired question provoked a small smile to form on his lips, but he didn't need to respond because she was already dozing off.

When he awoke again hours later, he found Emma becoming restless in her sleep. He carefully freed his arms and left the bed, taking the baby with him. He closed the door behind himself to give his fiancé some more sleep. He went into the nursery first, changing the little girl into a new diaper and outfit, before checking on his older girl. Avery was standing in her bed with tired eyes. He carefully lifted her baby sister into the bed and removed her. They had started potty training her, but from the looks Em had moved back to diapers for the simplicity. He changed those diapers and then put on a day outfit.

"You really need a bath girl." He noted, but for the moment that would have to wait.

"Ducky bath."

He laughed, as the girl lifted up her ducky in a swimming motion. He set her down on the floor and then got Emma back out of the bed. With the older girl trailing behind him, he made his way downstairs and set up breakfast for both of them. While Avery was happily chewing on her pancake he was feeding the baby a bottle of formula – not the best solution, but it would do for now.

He left Emma in her swing on the table, while he started to involve Avery in his cleaning task. She got her own little sponge with water that she happily used to wipe off the chairs and other things she could reach, while he cleaned up the rest of the dishes and the counters.

Derek then started on the breakfast for himself and Emily. He was just flipping the bacon when Avery left her sponge behind and took off towards the stairs.

"Mommy."

"Hi baby girl."

"Emi baby."

He heard her quiet chuckle, before she entered the kitchen with the girl in her arms. Her face immediately became guilty when she realized that he had cleaned the dishes up and her eyes wandered to the breakfast he was preparing.

"You didn't have to do that." She declared tiredly sinking into one of the chairs.

"Actually Avery cleaned that very chair you sit in, so it wasn't too much work."

"Oh did you?"

"Avery cleaning." She struggled to get free and then hurried to where she had let the sponge fall to the floor. Her mother's eyes meanwhile went to the swing.

"I fed her some formula and for now she seems happy enough to let us eat breakfast, before she pulls her next fit." He placed a plate with bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast in front of her, as well as a glass of orange juice.

"You didn't have to do all this work. This is my job."

"I know and you can have it back as soon as I get a phone call from Hotch, but for now let me enjoy myself in spoiling my girls."

She gave him a weak smile, which made him move his hand over the table grabbing her free one.

"We are in this together. Just because you are on maternity leave doesn't mean I can't do the dishes every once in a while and believe me there is nothing I would rather do."


	27. Let the Challenge begin

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews and the feedback. I love to hear what you are liking and not. Special thanks to Kaykay2018, Kay1104, Lenika08, tashak, Lena-F, PrentissObessed, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, paullyn6, MH96, jhplug, 123a456e, RandyOrtonxWifexx, Guest, Aaliayah13, Pheonix1995, and LVictoriaAM98. You are all fabulous. After a little bit of struggeling with her new role, Emily now does better, but there are some new issues waiting in their lives.

Thanks to lovelover123 for the fantastic help and advice with this part.

**Let the challenge begin**

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle."  
― Plato

It had been a hard few weeks for both of them. Derek had been under constant stress with his superiors keeping a close eye on him on the past cases. He hated having to question his every move. He knew deep down that Hotch was on his side, but he didn't get to feel it very often. Emily on the other hand slowly seemed to get the hang on being a full time mom. Thankfully, Avery turned out to be a great helper at home and rarely took the focus off of her baby sister. So, their mother had made it her goal to work as much with the toddler as she could while keeping the baby satisfied and the house from looking like a disaster.

Tonight mother and daughters were cuddled up on the couch. Derek, who was still at work, had told her the night before to stay at home just for the sake of the riots going on in the other parts of D.C and she didn't have any interest in witnessing those either. Emma was sleeping in her swing close by, while her sister was busy reading the book with her. When Emily's cell phone started ringing in the hallway, Avery jumped up, from where they were reading her picture book, and ran off to get it.

"I trained your sister well, now if I could get you to do the chores for me life would be great," Emily said to the baby as she pulled the swing closer to the couch to be able to touch the rosy cheeks. Although it was still hard at times, she understood now why a parent would do absolutely everything for their children.

"Daddy phone?" Avery had returned handing her the cell phone; she had somehow managed to get it off of the table that was supposed to be out of her reach. Emily glanced at the callers ID and then shook her head.

"Sorry Sweetie, it's Auntie Penelope." She then pressed the button to answer the call.

"Hi hottest Tech on the planet, are you missing me or did you hit the wrong speed dial?"

"Of course the first. How are my babies?"

Emily smirked at the mentioning of her daughters. Since Emma was born, every conversation seemed to start with the question of how her daughters were, and although she enjoyed talking about them, it felt weird sometimes, since her life had more aspects to it than the little girls. Although she loved and adored both of them, she sometimes wished her friends would give her a break by talking about other things than the diapers and toys she was surrounded by all day. Finally, she had come to the realization that she had done the same thing to JJ after Henry had been born.

"Emma is taking a nap in the swing Auntie Penelope bought her, and Avery just brought me the phone hoping it was Daddy."

"Well I can't keep up with our chocolate thunder." Emily laughed, while helping the toddler back up on the couch and handing her the book. "So I take it he is not home yet?"

"No." Her eyebrows raised in alert. "Should he be?"

"No, I guess not."

"Penelope."

"Well he left right after the case was over and I couldn't reach him on his phone, so I thought I'd try you."

"Why would you want to reach him?" It might have been her natural gut feeling from growing up with a mother who kept secrets, or her Interpol career, or maybe just the worried wife and mother, but something set her off on the way her friend was asking.

"He left his cell phone."

She was lying and it didn't take the Interpol training to figure that much. Emily sat up and then got off the couch to bring some distance between herself and the girls.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Or at least that was what the tech hoped. She had never really thought that Morgan would react to the obvious flirting of Tamara Barnes.

"Even if I wasn't a profiler that answer came too fast Penelope."

"Everything is fine. Just forget that I called, he can get his wallet tomorrow."

"If you say so," as soon as the phone call ended she pressed the speed dial on her own phone. It hadn't gone unnoticed with the profiler that Penelope had switched from phone to wallet during the conversation. Everything would have been fine with her if he had answered his phone right then, but he didn't. Her eyes went over to the girls, one still asleep the other bubbling over the book she was holding, likely telling a story.

"Mommy come." Avery patted the seat next to her.

"Are you going to tell the story now, or is it my turn?"

"Story telling."

Emily smiled as she sat down and pulled the girl on her lap to continue the book.

Two hours later, she had both of the little girls fed and ready for bed. Emma, of course, was fast asleep no matter what and although she was considering keeping Avery up for her dad, she finally put her to sleep to escape the mood swings. She was busy cleaning up the older girl's toys in the living room and folding the blanket when she heard the door.

"Hi." She said softly as he came around the corner into the room. Her eyes stopped on the phone he was holding in his hand.

"Sorry, I just saw I missed your call."

"It's okay. I was being the housewife longing to hear your voice that's all."

He smiled at her: "Well I think I have something better than that."

"Yea?"

"Come here."

Although Penelope had alerted more than one alarm in her, she was more than willing to sink into his arms. The days with him on a case were too long and having the riots on the news the past few nights didn't make her concerns smaller.

"How was the case?"

"Bad."

She lifted her head. It was unusual for them to actually admit that they saw horrible things.

"Do you want to talk?"

"I don't think that would help you to catch up on your sleep."

"Emma and I have a sleeping/feeding schedule worked out. I'm surprisingly awake for this time of the day."

"Seriously, you don't want to have the picture in your head."

"Okay." She let go of him. "You want something to eat?"

"I stopped at the diner." He turned and walked over to the safe he had worked into the bookshelf after Avery had moved in and locked his gun away.

"Did Pen get a hold of you?"

"I had a missed call from her."

"Maybe you should call her back. It sounded urgent."

"She called you?"

Emily raised an eyebrow at him, as he turned around. How else would she know that their friend had been trying to reach him in the first place? Her eyes narrowed on him, unsure of what to think of this whole situation.

"I'm sorry, it has been a long case and fighting those riots and crazy people with my family in the same town, didn't help on getting sleep."

"I understand." Well she partly did, but still Penelope's phone call earlier made things appear more suspicious. He walked over and placed a kiss on her cheek before heading upstairs. By the time she had checked on the girls and changed, he was sound asleep, so at least that part wasn't a lie.

After nursing Emma early the next morning, she decided to just stay up and wandered aimlessly through the downstairs level of the house. Every possible excuse for him to keep secrets she could out rule, at least the good ones. They had gone from best friends, to lovers, to parents and she never had wasted a thought at the fact that he had been a player as long as she had known him.

Hours later, she wandered into the kitchen setting up the coffee machine. Her fingers automatically opened his phone, as the text arrived; she smiled as she read it.

"Are you checking on me now?" Her hands froze around the phone. It had become part of their routine to answer each other's phones. "Just because Garcia makes some stupid comments?"

She let the phone slide out of her hand. "If you don't want me to read your texts, you should just let me know." She turned. "And while you are on that, you could tell me, why you disappeared for almost five hours yesterday, neither answering her nor my calls."

"So you were checking on me."

She had a few harsh answers on her lips, but swallowed them down and simply asked: "Is there a reason for me to need to check your phone?"

"Like I told Garcia I took Tamara home, because she needed someone to calm her down and then I felt like it should be one of us to tell her that we got them, not the media."

Emily stared at him, her eyes slowly filling with tears. Whatever he had told that Tamara person, it couldn't possibly take him five hours to mention that they got the murderers. "That text was from Garcia, asking if she could take the girls to the park this weekend." She took a step towards the door. "But if you are so paranoid about me checking the phone, I'm wondering what else I could possibly find on there from this Tamara."

With that, she disappeared into the hallway. She slipped into her boots and took her coat.

"Emily."

She threw the door close behind her and hurriedly walked down the street to get some distance to the house. She was well aware that he couldn't follow her, with the girls sleeping at home so she slowed down soon. For an hour she walked aimlessly through the streets. The tears had stopped eventually, although the thoughts hadn't. By now, she had created the wildest stories in her head, of who that Tamara was and what had been going on. Finally not only the cold, but also her common sense won over her rather creative mind and she walked back up her drive way. To her own surprise, she found a key in her pocket and walked into the house.

She was greeted by the familiar cry of her baby, and the babbling mixed with a few real words that belonged to Avery. She pulled off her coat and walked into the living room where she found Derek rocking the baby in his arms.

"Mommy." Avery jumped up as usually and ran over to her for a hug.

Emily picked up the little girl, listening with one ear to the exciting story she was being told while she eyed Derek. Emma was squirming in his arms, not seeing any reason to cooperate with him. Emily spotted the half-filled bottle on the table, so that couldn't be the reason, and she assumed that Derek would notice something obvious like a full diaper.

Finally, she sat Avery down and walked over to take the baby out of his arms. She sank into one of the chairs and started to lightly rock it with her feet while she quietly talked to Emma. At first the baby was anything but impressed, but with the consistent action she finally calmed down and went back to sleep.

"It's like she can sense when the person who is holding her freaks out, that's why I was having so many issues at the beginning. I needed to calm down in order to calm her down." Emily explained quietly, but didn't look at him. She then placed Emma into the swing and moved it to the kitchen table, away from Avery, expecting Derek to follow her, while the girl kept playing in the living room.

Emily sat down in a chair and watched as he moved to one of the counters to lean against. She still avoided his stare.

"You said Garcia was talking nonsense, so tell me what part of it was nonsense, and why this nonsense made you so sensible." Her hands were shaking as she carefully touched the swing to start the movement.

"Tamara is the sister of one of the victims. Her brother was killed so I had to question her. The next day she came back, asking more questions and I had promised to answer her, so I did. Next thing Garcia stops me and tells me that Tamara is after more than answers and that I shouldn't be flirting with her."

Emily directed her eyes towards an upper corner in the kitchen, trying desperately to keep the tears down.

"I don't know if I did send the wrong signals or not, I thought I was just doing my job." He swallowed. "The past few weeks Hotch has given me a heck of a time at work, not even to talk about the fact that I'm worried about his actions. When I drove Tamara home I just had a little bit of time to relax and think about everything."

"You need a strange woman to calm down?" She spit the words at him, before clapping her hand over her lips to keep herself from yelling further.

"If you were still on the team, I would have talked to you, but you aren't and everyone else is just minding their own business." Derek looked over at his future wife, but she refused to meet his pleading eyes. He had never meant to hurt her in any way. Indeed his main reason for not talking to her, had been that he didn't want to load his burden on her as well. He knew too well that she was still struggling with the adjustment to being a stay at home mom and didn't want to add to it. Now he regretted that decision. While trying to prevent her from being confronted with problems, he had caused even more. His eyes began tearing up when she finally spoke again and he felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

"So this is my fault?" It was a much calmer whisper, but he could still hear the poison in her words. How was he supposed to explain his situation? Not having her around and sometimes not even being allowed to talk to her about cases due to security aspects made it so much harder to have her as part of his life. They had worked so well as a couple, because they could always talk about everything openly and to have new restrictions on it now, made that a lot harder.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." He finally tried to explain his thoughts. "What I'm saying is that I didn't want to bother you with all of this, because you are still figuring out the stay at home mom thing. I thought I could cope with it on my own terms, and then last night I just started talking and Tamara was listening. Believe me if she had had any interest in me, it is gone now, because half of the time I would talk about you or the girls and at the end I realized that you should have been the one who was listening in the first place."

He moved away from the counter closer to where she was sitting and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. "Emily, you and our daughters are my everything and I would never risk that for a little bit of fun. I don't know what Penelope was seeing, but I know that I overreacted earlier, because I was worried you could be seeing something that never happened and I was simply afraid I would lose you over something stupid like this."

Emily swallowed; her eyes were now on the infant in the swing. His reaction from earlier still hurt, but she knew that time would fix that. What bothered her more was that he was not coming to her to talk about his life. Yes, she was busy and tired, but she had been that way before the girls were around, the reason had changed, but not the fact that she was making time for him.


	28. Isn't it enough yet?

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for reading this last chapter. I hope I didn't break to many hearts with the change of plot. Thanks especially to Nix1978, paullyn6, RandyOrtonxWifexx, Daisyangel, MH96, Kaykay2018, Tamara, Lena-F, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, Lumos-MischiefManaged-Nox, Aaliayah13, Lenika08, 123a456e, and Pheonix1995 for the feedback. It was great to read.

Thanks to my fabulous Lovelover123 for correcting and helping with this part.

Now to the new part, I'm almost scared to say it. This is the second to last part of this story. I am working on a sequel so no worries, but I'm a little sad that the posting of this comes to an end. It's so weird to think. Enjoy the part and for those that don't like Twilight, I apologize for the quote, but the last sentence seemed so true for Demily.

**Isn't it enough yet?**

"_About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn't know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."_  
― Stephenie Meyer, _Twilight_

It was late at night when he entered the house. This last case must have been the longest he had had in a long time. Hotch questioning his every step, had almost brought him to the point of quitting. There had been no reason for giving him a hard time, at least none Derek could have seen.

He left his go-bag in the hallway and walked into the living room. Deep behind a stack of books, he still had a bottle of strong alcohol and that was all he wanted and needed at this point. It was well after midnight. After finally explaining himself, Hotch had started in training him in his new job by going over boxes of new cases with him. By now Derek understood a lot better what was going on in his boss' head. He understood why the man had spent more time in the BAU than with his family, he understood why he was so serious, and more importantly he understand why the team was so dependent on him. Derek also knew more than ever before, that he didn't want that job. Yes, he had taken it, but that was mainly to protect the team. He was honored to be considered capable of it, but he would much rather go out into the field and hunt down the criminals instead of filing the paperwork.

"The case must have been bad, if you get drunk instead of staring at your sleeping babies."

He looked up, as she moved into the living room. Emily sat on the couch a few feet away from him, reminding him that they were still not back to normal.

"The case was okay."

"So what has kept you so long?" Just now, he remembered that he had called her hours ago, saying he would be home soon. That had been before he had entered Hotch's office.

"I'm sorry Em. Did you wait?"

"I fell asleep eventually. Just woke up when I heard the door."

He nodded, before taking another sip from the strong liquor: "Hotch promoted me."

"What?" She looked surprised.

"Unit Chief."

"That's his job." She stated the obvious.

"He stepped down." Derek glanced over to see her reaction, before continuing. "The bureau has been pressuring him ever since the attack. He thinks that it will save the team and tick Foyet off."

"So you are doing Hotch's job now?" Emily stared at him in disbelief.

"Until we catch Foyet. I don't care about that, but Hotch made it clear that they are going to split the team apart if I don't take the job."

Emily nodded, believing immediately that Strauss and her friends up there would jump at the opportunity to work against Hotch. Not too long ago, they had tried to spin Emily into those plans as well.

"Anyway, Hotch showed me the most urgent case files, since it's my job now to choose. I honestly forgot that I told you I would be home soon." He shot her an apologetic glance.

"I hope the team knows to appreciate your step up, because I already know you are going to hate that job." Emily had spent a lot more time with paperwork in her career than Derek and she knew that he would dislike that part.

"I already do. Never wanted it." He sat the glass down and stared at her. "Remember the New York case two years ago?"

She nodded, how could she forget that? Many people had been hurt, agents died – Derek had almost lost his life, in his attempt of saving many peoples lives.

"That's the job I was offered there. Better pay, more opportunities, a big chance, but one heck of a job." It would have also meant to leave the team, especially Emily behind, which had been another reason for him not to do it.

"Other people would kill for the job." She pointed out, before adding with a small smirk: "But I assume you would much rather pay someone to take the job from you."

"Well there is not much I can do about it now. I have a meeting with Strauss tomorrow morning to talk things through. From the look of things we will be flying out right after that."

Emily nodded. It wasn't like she had expected to see him anymore, now that he had this new job. It was more demanding than his old one in every aspect. She got up from her seat to go back upstairs and get some more sleep, before Emma was hungry again.

"There is one more thing."

She turned at the seriousness of his tone.

"When I was at Tamara's place the other day, she asked me to come to the hearing. I couldn't say no, but the hearing is tomorrow and I…," he stopped trying to find the right words. He hadn't missed the flash of hurt shimmering in her eyes, before she had pulled her self-defense back up. "I won't go, if you don't want me to."

Emily swallowed. She was aware that he was trying to heal the broken trust between them, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. One part of her wanted to stop him from ever seeing this person again, but at the same time, she knew that her part of healing the trust was to trust him with this.

"You are a big boy. Do what you need to do."

With that she turned and left the room. Derek watched her as long as he could and then got up to refill his glass. Sometime in the last few weeks, his life had become an absolute mess and this new job would make it even worse. After a short night, he did decide to go to the hearing. It wasn't only for Tamara, but also for the victims. Having a case in his town always made him feel like he owed the victims a little more than usual. What he didn't expect was the gift and offer for a drink.

Maybe he had crossed the invisible line after all, but he didn't have time to think about it, as he had to leave for his first case as team leader. The team dynamics were off and everyone knew it. Not only was Emily still missing, but also it felt weird to have to do Hotch's job and even worse tell Hotch what he had to do and what his part was.

When he finally came home, Derek wanted nothing more than figure things out with Emily and have at least part of his normal life back. He was ready to leave the building, although the files were nowhere close to being done, when Penelope dragged him to an office down the hallway. At first he was just annoyed, because again he would get home later than what he had expected and wanted, but then she showed him all the little features and details of the room and he couldn't help himself but smile.

Penelope left and he sank into his new chair. His eyes wandered to the framed pictures and he smiled. He reached for one of them that showed Emily and their daughters. Derek didn't know this picture and as he looked closer he realized why. The picture was taken right here in his office. He set the frame back down and pulled out his phone.

"Hey, I'm back."

He listened for the shortest moment, grabbing their family picture with his free hand and pulling it closer. It was only a few weeks old, but it still felt like forever ago.

"Listen, I was thinking that cute black dress, I haven't seen it on you for a while and we should really take the dress out tonight."

He heard Emily's laugh and smiled then listened to her telling him that they still had two children sleeping at home.

"I'll get Garcia to babysit and if she refuses I'll call Rossi. I'm his superior now, plus Emma is his goddaughter, he owes us some babysitting every once in a while."

He got up from his desk and walked back out to the bullpen, which was the shortest way to Penelope's office. Emily still tried to bring up arguments against going out, when he reached the tech's paradise.

"Babygirl, can you watch the girls for a few hours?"

"I would love too." What Derek didn't know was that Penelope still felt bad for turning him down his engagement night and therefore having to miss out on an early announcement. So now, she jumped to her feet and started packing her belongings up.

"You heard the woman and now stop giving me a hard time and get that cute little black dress on."

As Emily hung up back home, she had to focus hard to wipe the stupid smirk of her face. She had been surrounded by baby talk and couldn't stop worrying about Derek and their relationship for last few weeks, so now that he forced her to go out it felt almost like a miracle. She took a quick shower, before putting his favorite dress on. She was half done with her hair, when she heard him and Garcia enter the house. Her friend almost immediately joined her in the bathroom, helping with the curling iron, while Derek changed into something that was still nice, but didn't feel like work anymore.

An hour later, they were on their way. Emily was still playing with a curl that she didn't like the way it had turned out.

"I'm really glad we found a better use of that dress, than showing it to Viper."

With that Emily busted into laughter and the tense atmosphere between them seemed to become a little friendlier. She looked over at him.

"I can't believe you remember I was wearing this dress that day."

"Well you weren't talking to me, so I had to take what I got. Staring at you."

She remembered too well when that case had been. It was shortly after Avery had called her mommy for the first time and she had kept both of them at a distance. Her eyes wandered down to the engagement ring on her finger.

"Well I think we turned out alright at the end."

"Did we?" He could hear the doubt and fear in his voice; after all, again she wasn't talking more than the necessary to him. She slid her hand over the console into his and took hold of it.

"Raising two children, being engaged and somehow getting you promoted, I think we are doing pretty good."

He glanced over towards her. Doubt was still written all over his face.

"How was the hearing?"

He sighed, as he had hoped she wouldn't bring it up. Penelope had been right. Tamara was hoping for more he was willing to offer and now it was on him to explain that to Em.

"She gave me her brother's necklace."

Derek could feel her hand tense in his own and tightened his grip in fear she would let go.

"She also asked to have a drink sometime."

He stopped the car and got out of it. When he reached Emily's side, she had already opened the door and shivered slightly. He took his jacket off and put it on her shoulders, before taking her hand again and guiding her into the middle of the lit up garden. As they got further into the sea of lights she made out a small pavilion and smiled. This was the place where he had planned to propose to her.

As they stepped into the white building, he turned to take her into his arms. "So when I got back I called her and told her that I couldn't go for a drink with her, because I already had a date for every night for the rest of my life."

"You didn't actually say that, did you?"

"Well maybe not the second part, although it is true."

He then pulled her closer and she finally allowed herself to sink into him feeling the healing between them go on.

"I love you Emily."

"I love you too." She looked back up and for the first time in weeks got on her tiptoes to kiss him.


	29. Get out of here

Hello my lovely readers. First of all thank you to all of you who ever reviewed (WrItTeN-PuRpLe, Lenika08, Sarbeary, Paullyn6, dannyanne, Nix1978, jhplug, csinylover106, Lumos-MischiefManaged-Nox, RosalieTheBeautyQueen, MaileS, PrentissObessed, Starrmyst, 123a456e, Aaliayah13, Barbra4317, Lena-F, leahloahla, TVHollywooedDiva, PreciousAngel15, anlemi, RealMe07, MH96, rmpcmfan, Xyrah329, KazyCMfan, A1fictiongrl, LOVESxPAGET, DMfANATiC69, Pheonix1995m crayolakid0413, Lexis4MorganPrentiss, TheMysteriousGeek2345, S, crazykelly101, lachildress, Swifty1678, Trunte37, thedoctorxxrosetyler, news for parrots, MeGkAtHeRiNe, RandyOrtonxWifexx, Daisyangel, kay1104, Kaykay2018, Gabby, Tamara, howImetyourcriminalmind, Samantha, tashak, MorganLover, Kara Amira Almindez, SSA OPHY, LVictoriaAM98, and all the Guests. I can't tell you when I get more excited: Seeing a new reviewer or someone whose complicated name I know how to spell by now, because it shows up so regularly. Some crazy statistic: Before this chapter you send me 370 reviews, which is just insane if you ask me, but I'm so glad you did. Thank you also for the 122 of you following and the 65 on whose favorite list I made it with this story.

Thank you especially to lovelover123. Do you have any idea how much you read in the past month and corrected for me? Let's just say, if I had written it all in November I would have overachieved at NaNoWriMo. You are the best and I put the duck in, just for you.

Now this is the final chapter for "Change of a Lifetime." It has taken me a long time to figure out where this story was supposed to go and when I rewatched 100, it just seemed right. I don't think this tag even starts to show the feelings of Hotch and the rest of the team, but it reminds our favorite two what's important in life. And after writing almost more in my thank you note than in the story, here you go.

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**Endings and new Beginnings**

"_Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"_  
― L.M. Montgomery

Emily had slowly grown into her new role as mother. Emma was upstairs sleeping, while she was entertaining Avery. The little girl was all into coloring a picture and very content in her high chair. Emily was busy preparing lunch for them, when her phone went off. She dried her wet hands on a towel and picked up her cell only to put it between her head and shoulder and continue cutting the potatoes.

"Did you miss me so much that you had to call?"

"I need you to get the girls and leave town."

"What?" She had no idea what he was talking about and was startled by the seriousness in his voice.

"The Reaper is back and he is after Hotch and the team. I need you to take the girls and get on the next flight to Chicago."

"Derek, why would he be after us?"

"He stole my credentials. He was playing with me just as much as with Hotch and I'm not taking the risk."

Emily sat down the knife and looked over to where Avery was drawing on her picture, while being in an animated conversation with her toy duck. She knew that Hotch saw a major threat in that man and The Reaper was definitely a dangerous man, but he had made it clear that his goal was it to destroy Hotch.

"Emily, please just do what I say."

She could hear the desperate tone in his voice. It wasn't like him to panic in this way, but then again neither of them was much their usual self's when it came to their children. She nodded quietly until she realized that he wasn't able to see that.

"I'm on my way."

"I'll call ma. Please be careful."

"I should be the one telling you that."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She hung up, still staring at her little daughter. She then dialed the airport's number, and while booking a flight turned off the stove. Minutes later, she took Avery out of her chair and carried her upstairs. She hurriedly put together a bag for herself and the two little girls.

She didn't stop to think everything through until they were checked in for their flight and sat in the crowded waiting area. Avery wasn't very happy with the waiting, but being told she would see Grandma soon helped a little to calm her down. Emma on the other hand had been sleeping so far, but now began to stir and it was only a matter of time until she would throw a fit. Emily's thoughts were somewhere else though. Being an Agent had been her for so long, she couldn't just shake it off, and then there was always her other family. All of them were in danger and so were their families. Had JJ called Henry and Will and were they leaving just as she was? She couldn't believe that she was actually on the run from a criminal, again. Only a year ago, she would have stood up to him and hunted the criminal down, but now she knew that she had to protect the girls first.

First that was. It felt weird to be back in the building she had been working in for the past years. She hadn't expected to be back under these circumstances. By the time she had landed in Chicago, she had made her decision. Leaving her daughters with Fran, she had taken the next flight back to D.C. She had only stopped at home to grab her gun and credentials and change in some more flexible clothes. Her eyes went over the group of desks, when she heard his call from behind.

"Emily?"

She turned, bracing herself for a discussion.

"What are you doing here?"

Derek jogged down the stairs and towards her. He looked around like he was expecting their children to be hiding in one of the desks.

"I couldn't stay in Chicago and do nothing."

"So the girls are in Chicago?"

She nodded. Her eyes went over to where JJ and Hotch hurried to the tech's office. Something was going on and by their looks it wasn't good.

"This is my family too. I'm not going to sit at home doing nothing."

"You make me vulnerable."

"I can take care of myself, plus I have a feeling that this will have nothing to do with us."

He nodded slowly, knowing that arguing wouldn't change her mind. At least if she was here with them, he could keep an eye on her and in a short selfish thought, he was glad that she was here. To see his wife and have her close calmed him down. She was all he needed to remember what was important and to keep calm.

"You better follow the unit chief's order."

She rolled her eyes at him as he was referring to himself, but when she saw his smirk, she couldn't help herself but smile as well and then followed him upstairs to the conference room. Reid and Rossi were surprised to see her, but neither of them asked any questions. It was too important to find Foyet to turn down any extra help.

It was probably the hardest case any of them had worked on. Having someone close who they loved involved made everything so much worse. As the shots rang through the SUV's, it was not only Hotch's heart that broke into pieces. After securing the house, Emily sank on the sidewalk. They had all seen Haley's body and they didn't love her as much as Hotch did, but it was still cruel. She wiped her hands over her tired eyes. In this moment, she didn't miss the job a bit. All she wanted was her girls back home, taking care of them and forgetting about all the bad things that were happening out there in the real world.

Hours later, Hotch had taken Jack home, leaving the team to put the pieces together that they had. Derek was sitting in his office, when she found him. She handed him her phone with a small smile on her lips and didn't answer his questioning look.

"Hello?" His voice was raspy and he barely recognized it, but apparently, his daughter still knew it.

"Daddy."

"Hi princess, are you having fun at grandmas."

"Avery go home?"

"You will be coming home soon."

"Emi go home?"

Emily was relieved when she saw the smile form on his lips.

"Yes Sweetie, Emma is coming home to."

At this point Fran seemed to decide that it was time to take the phone back over and she assured him that they were doing just fine. She also told him that Emily had already booked tickets for her to bring the girls back the following day. When he finally hung up, he reached his hand towards her and pulled her on his lap. It was one of those moments when he couldn't care less for any of the rules they had.

As upset as he had been when she had shown up with her gun and batch ready to hunt Foyet, now he was glad that she was right here with him. He buried his face in the material of her sweater that was covering her neck and took a deep breath to take in the familiar scent.

He had no idea what he would have done in Hotch's position. Even thinking about losing Emily or their daughters made him choke and the image of Haley's dead body would just not leave his head. With a sudden thought, he lifted his head, startling her.

"I don't want to wait anymore."

"Wait with what?" Her voice was quiet, besides his outburst.

"To marry you." His hand moved to her face, caressing her cheek. "I know we said we wanted Emma to be older, and I really couldn't think about a more inappropriate moment, but…" He became quiet again.

"We could do the court house part. Have the big party some other time." Her voice was still calm. "Tomorrow when your mom is here, only her and the girls."

He nodded softly, glad that she was willing on following his desperate wish on bringing some good back into his life. They would get married just like everything else in their relationship had happened, quietly and not yet for the rest of the team to know, but he needed that now.

The End

"**They say every ending is also a beginning,**

**we just don't know it at the time.**

**I'd like to believe that's true"**

**-Emily Prentiss, **_**Criminal Minds**_**-**

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Someone brought up in a review, how Emily would handle the memory of Doyle while raising her own family. Well you are about to find out, when the Sequel comes out. Please look for that story, hopefully I will be able to start posting within the next two weeks.


	30. Note

The sequel is up: The Shadows of the Past!


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